


The Third Dragon

by Fmfan1980



Category: Game of Thrones (TV), Stargate SG-1
Genre: Action, Drama, F/M, Family, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-30
Updated: 2018-11-24
Packaged: 2019-02-08 17:16:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 28,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12869286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fmfan1980/pseuds/Fmfan1980
Summary: In the history of Westoros, it is written that Rhaenys Targaryen was murdered in the sack of Kings Landing along with her mother and baby brother. What if that was a lie?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own the rights, characters, locations or plots from Stargate SG1 or Stargate Atlantis. Just as I don't own the rights to the characters, locations, or plots from Game of Thrones. They belong to their respective owners without whom this fanfiction would not have been possible. All reviews are welcome

**Planet Designated- Illirianis; 2012.**

It's been nearly three years since the end of the Ori threat to the Milky Way. Now, it was time to rebuild destroyed lives and destroyed homes on planets that the Ori army decimated. Of course, there were still other threats to the galaxy, namely the Lucien Alliance which slithered into the vacuum caused by the downfall of the Goa'uld. They were pushed back somewhat by the Ori crusade, but once the latter threat was extinguished, the Alliance grew more emboldened.

They even had the audacity to directly attack Earth, the home of Stargate Command and Homeworld Command- organizations that caused the Alliance nothing but problems in spreading their criminal activities. While the Lucien Alliance bomb that ploughed its way into the building known as the Pentagon was disarmed several minutes later with much difficulty, and the loss of several lives from the initial impact, the damage was done.

The Lucien Alliance wanted a war with the Tau'ri, and now they had one. While the Tau'ri, the newly found remnants of the Tollan, and the Free Jaffa Nation, took their war to the Alliance; the Tok'ra formed groups of covert operatives that were responsible for hunting the remaining Goa'uld underlords who remained scattered into the corners of the galaxy.

It was nearly two weeks ago that one such Goa'uld, an under lord to the former System Lord Ba'al named Surasi, had been discovered by a Goa'uld spy investigating the kidnapping of men, women, and children from several planets. From one such planet, he was nearly killed by a Tok'ra spy after his Jaffa were taken down and his slaves freed. However, he escaped through a Stargate several minutes before he could be captured. However, by the time the other Tok'ra reached the DHD, he was gone… and the DHD could not connect the Stargate to the planet where he escaped.

Unknown to the Tok'ra, the Stargate on Illirianis was located in a cave that was already unstable. The activation of the Stargate caused a tremor in the large cavern, causing the beginnings of a cave in. Surasi was nearly knocked out by a falling piece of debris after he rushed through the event horizon, and ran as fast as he could away from the destruction behind him as rocks and debris fell. Eventually, the ring was buried, while Surasi barely made it out and into the outskirts of a massive city in the distance.

The Tok'ra tried to dial out from the planet that Surasi escaped, but there was no luck. It took them two weeks to go through the data crystals in the DHD, and then find out the location of the planet Surasi had gone off to. It would be several hours after the discovery of Surasi's destination that Talia's Tel'Tak exited hyperspace to the orbit of a planet that exhibited no lifesigns.

Not even any Goa'uld lifesigns. Talia was surprised, the sensors on the ship were advanced enough to find the approximate location of any lifeform from orbit, but the sensors were showing nothing at all. Curious, the Tok'ra woman then cloaked her ship and made her way into the atmosphere, and then past the cloud cover.

'There you are,' she thought to herself once she found herself flying over a large, majestic, red building. She set her sensors to search for Goa'uld lifesigns, and she found it. She found Surasi. And a smile appeared on her face as she grabbed her handheld life-sign detector. Heading for the far end of the city, a city that seemed to be in chaos, Talia landed the ship and then pressed down on the Sodan cloaking band on her left arm.

**Maegor's Holdsfast, Kings Landing, an hour later;**

Using the handheld detector, the cloaked Talia, with the crystal on the band around her upper left arm glowing green found the man she was looking for. She stared into the brown eyes that glowed for a few second after she shoved the body of the young man, who was in his mid-thirties, against the wall on the top most floor of what was supposed to be the most secured building in Kings Landing. As Talia looked into the eyes of the Goa'uld in front of her… she could feel her symbiote, Arisa, telling her mentally that Surasi had been caught and that it was time to end him.

With one arm against the young mans throat, with the hallways empty due to everyone having been confined to their respective rooms, Talia punched him and then stepped back. As he stumbled to the floor after being hit by an invisible force, Talia pressed the crystal on her left arm with her free right hand. She stared with a cold smile at the stunned Surasi before leaning down, grabbing him by the collar and then shoving him back against the wall once again.

"Shol'va!" Surasi screamed before bringing up his arms so that he could either strangle Talia or push her away.

"Die," she whispered before the man could take another step forward. At lightning speed, Talia closed her right hand into a fist… her fingers pressing down on the pressure sensor in her palm. A millisecond later, as she stepped back and Surasi leapt at her with rage in his eyes, a razor sharp blade- an alloy of carbon, naquada, and trinium- was unsheathed from a compartment in the lower right sleeve of her black skin-tight suit. Talia swung her arm horizontally, the blade cutting through the air and then through one side of his kin, bones, and then the Goa'uld symbiote, and out the other side.

It was the head that rolled to the floor before the body crumbled down. Blood pouring out of the body.

Talia closed her eyes in regret for killing the young man, but with King Landing having been invaded, Talia just wanted to finish the job. She didn't want to lose her target into the invading crowd. But now, her job was done, her mission complete.

Talia brought her left hand up to her collar while she retracted the blade back into its compartment on her right arm. She pressed a button that shone red for a few seconds before blinking, indicating that her cloaked Tel'Tak she piloted had activated its autopilot from its parking spot in what was a dilapidated arena. The ship silently took off after its autopilot was activated, and flew towards the tracer on Talia's uniform. She just had to head for the roof, with the ship tracking her location, board the transport, and then fly out of the city and the planet.

As Talia was about to press the crystal on the left armband to cloak her body, Talia heard the distant screams of people- men, women, and children- out in the city thanks to the invading forces of the Lannister army. Talia didn't know the politics behind what was happening, all she knew as she landed was that it was as good a cover as any to take out her target.

But then, just before Talia cloaked herself once again. Just before she was about to turn and dash down the corridor to the stairs leading to the roof, a blood curdling scream was heard from four doors down the hallway. She shook her head before staring at the wooden doorway at the end of the curved hallway. Hesitating for a few seconds before turning her head again and preparing to make her way to the stairs, Talia thought to herself that this wasn't her problem.

And her symbiote, Arisa, agreed. They had finished their mission, and it was now time to head back to the Tok'ra homeworld for their next mission.

Talia took a step forward. She was a step closer to the stairway. But she stopped, her blood freezing when she heard a blood curdling scream. Talia looked over her shoulder and closed her eyes while rolling her hands into fists. This wasn't her fight. And then her blood froze when there was another scream, this time sounding as if it was coming from a young girl, then there was the wail of a baby.

"Stay away from them!" screamed a woman who, by the sound of her voice, seemed to be older, "please…. Stay…. Stay away! Mercy! I beg mercy! no! no!"

"Mother!" the young female voice yelled out. Her voice reverberated through the wall of the corridor as Talia turned around to face the door, hesitating on her next course of action. This wasn't her fight, she completed her job… just as she completed numerous others. And then she heard the girl scream, "Help me! Help me, mother! Father! Help!." And the voice was gone.

"No! Please! No!" the woman screamed in anguish as a chill ran up and down Talia's spine. She told herself that she had to act. This wasn't her mission, but she had to act. There was something pushing her to act, and then she heard the woman scream out again with a wail "Rhaenys!".

The crying wail of the baby continued.

" _ **Talia,"**_ Arisa mentally said as Talia took a step forward towards the wooden door in the distance,  _ **"this is not our concern, we must…."**_

Suddenly the wail of the baby was snuffed out, and the scream from the woman went an octave louder. It was the scream of anguish. 'What have I done?' Talia thought as she ran at full speed towards the door, pushing aside her hesitation. Talia knew she had to act, it was the human part of her that needed to act.

" _ **Talia,"**_ Arisa whispered in her mind as her host rushed towards the wooden door,  _"_ _ **we have seen numerous people killed on the way to this place. The enemy army has been sacking this city ever since we entered, are you going to save the rest of the people? Why did you not save the ones you saw being killed? Why did you not save the ones being raped? Why…"**_

Before the symbiote could finish the next question, Talia mentally answered, " _I had a job to do. Now my job is done. I should have acted earlier, I…"_

" _ **Talia,"**_ countered the symbiote in the five seconds it took for Talia to dash from the beheaded body, to the door where she was now hearing screams of pain and anguish accompanied by thuds. The symbiote could feel everything that Talia felt… it knew her thoughts and desires… it could feel a need that couldn't be explained to get into the room. As Talia lifted her leg to kick the door open, Arisa wondered if she should take control of Talia's body. Talia had her orders, and she always followed them- return home after finishing the job, no detours. Arisa could feel Talia was getting too emotionally involved as the host kicked the door down using her enhanced strength, and then stepped into the room to a sight either symbiote nor host had seen even during Talia's former enslavement to the Goa'uld under-lord, Balrog,  _ **"We do not belong here, the Tel'tak is coming for us, and right now it's tracking us to this level. We must leave, and… no."**_

"No," Talia whispered in shock, together with her symbiote, after the door swung hard inwards, slamming against the wall to the left side, and the lock that held the door shut fell into a pool of blood. Talia opened her eyes wide with a mixture of emotions going through her very being- disgust, disbelief, and anger- as her eyes shifted from the view of a little girl, a little more than three years old, with several stab wounds in her abdomen, chest, shoulders, and the side of her head, lying on a bed that was blood soaked with a bloody dagger lying next to her.

Talia's view them shifted to the mass of pink tissue lying on the floor in a pool of red blood and pink organs. Her eyes then shifted to the wall next to a man, a large mountain of a man who was wearing blood spattered armour. The chest plate had a crest of three animals in a vertical column… but Talia couldn't make out the name of the animal.

But that did not matter. What mattered was the wall next to him that had spatters of blood, flesh and brain stuck onto the surface. And then there was the sickening crack, followed by a woman's scream, as the armoured man then reached down to the bloody and bruised woman bent over a table.

The woman was screaming in pain as she was lifted over the head of the man who gripped tight with his blood stained steel gloves. Talia was in shock as she watched the man use his thick arms, when the woman was overhead, to pull hard and tear the screaming woman in half before letting go of the two half's of the body. They fell to the floor in two bloody heaps.

Talia's eyes shifted, her perception of time slowing down while she felt the anger from her symbiote as well. She watched the armoured man, in slow motion, reach down for the largest sword she had ever seen, and doubted that her blade could survive a hit from the heavy, silver, blade. A chill went up Talia's spine as he took a step forward while, at the same time, Talia heard voices and footsteps coming down the hallway behind her through her enhanced hearing.

She couldn't stay much longer, maybe five more minutes before she was swamped by guards. Talia heard the constant beeping from her tracker which told her that the cloaked ship was waiting for her outside the window to her left side. Talia knew that even with possible reinforcements coming from the hallway, she could make it to the roof while cloaked and bypassing all the coming soldiers. She didn't know if they were the soldiers of the enemy, or the ones that were guarding the city… but either way, she needed to get out.

" **I told you we could not do anything, Talia,"** Arisa mentally said while thinking about the horror in front of them, " **we must activate our cloak, and then leave this place."** Talia took a step back while staring at the towering man who silently stared at her with crazed eyes she could make out through the slits on the helmet he was wearing. She was about to jump back out into the hallway, and then run. She knew that while cloaked in the hallway, no one… not even the giant of a man in front of her, could catch up to her.

And she had no intention of getting caught in between those hands. But then, before Talia could make her move, the corner of her vision saw the little girl… the bleeding girl on the bed… move her fingers slightly.

' _She's still alive?'_ Talia thought as the small arms of the child twitched as blood soaked the sheets, ' _just barely, just barely'_ , her eyes shifting back to the man who was gripping the pommel of his sword tight. Before her symbiote could say anything, Talia reached back with her right hand and grabbed her Zat as the giant screamed in rage and rushed at her. Talia dove to one side, avoid the swing of the sword, before she lay on her side and fire the Zat at the man. She stared at the man in surprise as the beam left the weapon, 'he's fast for his size,' she thought to herself.

The blue beam of light hit the man, and then cracked blue lightning all over his body as he was forced to one knee… the sword falling to the blood stained floor. Talia got back to her feet in a rush just as he, while on one knee, leapt at her with his arms outstretched.

"Arrrgh!" he growled with madness and rage in his eyes.

'How is he still moving?' Talia thought as she dove away again and then rolled on the floor until she was near the top half of the dead woman's body. She then fired another shot to the giant's side. He screamed, enraged, once again before Talia got to her feet and fired another Zat beam. At the fourth beam, the giant fell onto the floor with a thud. He lay on his side with eyes closed shut but, to Talia and the symbiote's surprise, the man was still breathing.

" _ **Talia, we need to leave, now!"**_ **the symbiote yelled in her mind.**

And that's what Talia did.

It was two minutes later that the Lannister soldiers rushed through the hallways, and then entered the royal nursery. To their surprise, and to the surprise of Tywin Lannister who led them, they discovered the unconscious body of the man known as The Mountain lying face down, his great sword on the floor, his open hand over the pommel. Tywin, his jaw locked, stared at the unconscious body of the Mountain and wondered who could have bested him in a fight. He them looked away to the torn body of Elia Martell and a smile appeared on his face. He walked over to the body, stepping onto the pools of blood towards the top half of the body, and spit on her bloody face. He then shifted his gaze to the mutilated body of Aegon Targaryen, the son of the dead Prince Rhaegar Targaryen.

A smile came to his lips looking around the nursery, before he looked up at the empty bed. Narrowing his eyes as the smile vanished instantly, Tywin rushed to the bed and ordered the soldiers to search the room for the body of the second child. "Check under the bed, check the closets, check the entire Holdfast. Check everywhere before Robert comes to Kings Landing!" The Lannister soldiers mumbled amongst themselves while Tywin stared at the blood-soaked bed, "a child with this much blood loss should be dead. Find Rhaenys Targaryen's body for our new king"

Tywin then turned and stared at his soldiers, who were staring stunned at the horror around them, before barking the order again, "scour the tower. Find her! Go!" The soldiers then rushed out into the hallway to search for the bleeding child. Tywin looked back at the bed and rolled his hands into fists. Somehow, someone had taken the girl with them.. he didn't know how, especially since he and his soldiers would have seen someone carrying a bleeding bundle past them.

'That girl is the heir to the throne,' he thought to himself, 'she needs to be found, and killed. We need to be in Robert's good graces since we stayed neutral until the very last moment. And if we can't find the body, if we cannot find who sneaked away with the little bitch… then there's a city of little girls out there. We take one, and then ensure she is unrecognizable before handing her to Robert when he comes to claim the throne.'

And that's what happened. The girl, Rhaenys Targaryen wasn't found anywhere in the Holdsfast. Tywin ordered the abduction of a girl, any girl, who was Rhaenys' age. And they had found a girl, a daughter of one of the maids in the Holdsfast, who was then promptly killed to stop her wailing while the daughter was torn away from her arms. He then had his most violent knight - second to the Mountain - beat the little girl's face until it was unrecognizable before stabbing the little body.

In the end, Robert Baratheon, who crowned himself king, was later presented with the bodies of Elia Martell, Aegon Targaryen, and the unknown girl presented as Rhaenys Targaryen. The fury of the King's best friend was palpable… Lord Eddard Stark of Winterfell was outraged when Robert's reaction to the death of the children were, "they were no babes, they were dragon spawn," and the fact that Robert didn't see the Lannister's actions as murder.

In disbelief and outrage, Stark turned his back to Robert and rushed away to find his sister. To find Lyanna Stark.

And when he did find Lyanna months later, Stark found her bleeding on a bed in a high tower in Dorne. After her death, Stark took the baby Lyanna had christened Aegon Targaryen into his arms while, in her final breaths, Lyanna begged her older brother to protect her child. In the end, Ned Stark hid the baby's real identity and told his wife, Catelyn Stark, that it was his bastard son- Jon Snow.

But that tale is for another time. His story would be a story of one born by ice and fire.

Back in the present day, Talia flew the cloaked ship out of the atmosphere while the barely breathing body of Rhaenys Targaryen lay bleeding in the rear compartment of the Tel'Tak. Once the ship reached the outer atmosphere, Talia activated the hyperdrive and set it for the only place she knew the girl would be cared properly. She knew that the journey to Earth and the Tok'ra homeworld would be several hours by hyperspace- time she did not have- instead she keyed in the coordinates for the nearest Stargate which was forty lightyears away.

Once the ship entered hyperspace, Talia locked the controls and then rushed off her chair and towards the girl. Talia turned right once entering the rear compartment to a small box that was marked with Goa'uld symbols, and opened it. She then reached in and took the red jewelled object out of its recess. It was standard for all Tok'ra special operatives to carry a healing device in the event, no matter how unlikely, they were injured. This time, she was using it on someone else instead of herself.

Talia spun around and slipped the device on her right hand while giving permission to Arisa to take over her body. Arisa went down on one knee next to the exceedingly pale little girl and then hovered the device over her head. The red crystal then started to glow, the red light falling on the girl's head as Arisa slowly swept the device over the body. She was surprised at the constitution of the girl… she had stab marks all over her body and the side of her head, she was still bleeding out onto the floor but the flow had decreased as her body started to heal itself.

' **You wish to fight, child,'** Arisa thought looking down at the blood-stained face of the little girl **, 'I agree with Talia, taking you back to Earth directly, or to the Tok'ra homeworld would take too long. Your wounds are healing, but the blood loss has made you severely weak. The life of a Tok'ra is no life for a girl.. not even for someone who survived a nightmarish assault. And the healing device can only do so much- your major injuries will be healed, but the rest will be cared for by the Tau'ri. You will be brought to people who will watch over you and bring you back to full health without a symbiote. And from there, you would live your life.'**

**Alpha Site, 1340 hours.**

"Defence teams to the Gateroom, Defence teams to the Gateroom," yelled the lieutenant who was on duty at the table to the left of the Stargate. Behind him were banks of computers, and a small laptop was on his table. The laptop acted as the DHD for the Alpha Site Stargate, and after the Stargate activated, the laptop became the receiver for any SG team IDC. While the event horizon rippled, the lieutenant was staring at the computer screen waiting for a security code signal from Stargate Command.

'But they're not supposed to check-in for three more days,' he thought to himself as the defence teams rushed in with Colonel Pierce, the base commander, following them. The access to the Alpha Site Stargate was extremely restricted; only the SGC knew the address, as did a handful of Jaffa, and the Tok'ra. The Alpha Site was meant to be the port of last call for the Jaffa and the Tok'ra, only to be used in the most extreme of emergencies. SG Teams followed the same rules as well. As the defence team kneeled while pointing their weapons at the active wormhole's event horizon, they waited with bated breath for someone to walk through. The Alpha Site gate was unshielded, and had not iris, and because of that it was designated to be used only in absolute emergencies… and that's why there were about twenty heavily armed Marines with state-of-the-art weaponry aiming at the event horizon.

And with the SGC's luck, anything could happen. Absolutely anything. So imagine their surprise when a woman rushed through the Stargate with a bloodied little girl in her arms, "I'm a Tok'ra operative! And this girl requires medical attention!"

"Medic!" yelled the Colonel after seeing the bloodied girl, "call a medic!"

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

**Stargate Command, 1700 hours.**

"Colonel Dixon," Dr. Carolyn Lam, the daughter of the commander of Stargate Command and the SGC's Chief Medical Officer whispered as she smiled and nodded her head at the Colonel, the leader of SG-13.

"Doc," he replied stepping to one side after the door to the General's office opened. She walked past him in a hurry before the Colonel turned his head to General Landry waving him into the latter's office. General Landry was standing behind his desk before taking a seat after motioning towards the chair on the other side of the desk.

For the next thirty minutes, Colonel Dixon and General Landry were talking about SG-13's next mission, to lead a recovery team to another world that had just been attacked by the remnants of the Ori Army. While the majority of the army and the Priors retreated to their own galaxy following the use of the Ark of Truth to make them see that Origin was a lie, there were a few who remained behind. These remnants were enraged that their belief was taken away from them, that they had been lied to. They killed their Priors, who kept n saying they were wrong, and then went on to attack numerous planets using their commandeered Ori motherships.

There were three motherships that remained behind carrying a total of over twelve thousand Ori soldiers. It would take a long time before the final Ori ship was found and destroyed thanks to Tok'ra intelligence. The galaxy was finally rid of the Ori army, and life had returned to a new normal. It would be later that the Tau'ri discovered a Tollan world during a mission- and in this world the SGC reconnected with their former allies.

Back in the present day, the Colonel and the General continued to discuss the latest humanitarian mission that would aid in the recovery from attack by the Ori remnant when the klaxons blared. It was then that a voice came over the speakers, "unscheduled incoming wormhole, defence teams to the Gateroom." Colonel Dixon and the General looked at each other for a second before they got up and then rushed out of the office and down to the Control Room where Walter had his hand on a scanner that flashed green. The Colonel then looked through the control room window and saw the gunmetal grey coloured Iris slide over the center of the Stargate. And just as the Iris closed shut, the dialling sequence was complete and the Stargate activated.

"Walter? Who is it?" General Landry asked while Colonel Dixon stood next to him and stared at the Iris before looking at the computer to Walter's left side. He saw an oscillating wave on the screen, as did General Landry, which meant that an IDC signal was being sent through the open wormhole.

"It's the Alpha Site, sir," Walter said looking over his shoulder at the General, "we're receiving an audio transmission."

"On speaker."

"This is Colonel Pierce to Stargate Command."

"Colonel Pierce, this is General Landry. This is a surprise, we're not supposed to hear from you for another three days."

"Yes, sir." The Colonel replied as he stood at the desk in the Alpha Site Gateroom, "General, there's been an incident. Almost three hours ago, there was a Tok'ra agent that came through the gate to the Alpha Site." Back in the SGC, Colonel Dixon and the General glanced at each other… it wasn't unusual to have Tok'ra agents or even some Jaffa to use the Alpha Site as a waypoint before moving on to their home worlds in times of emergency. So the both of them were prepared to hear that there was some kind of emergency that forced this particular Tok'ra agent to Gate to the Alpha Site. However, they were not prepared for the reason, as the Colonel continued, "sir, the Tok'ra had a girl in her arms."

"Colonel? Can you repeat that? Did you say a girl?"

"A girl, yes sir," Colonel Pierce confirmed as he placed both of his hands on the desk in front of him, "she's about three years old. She's been injured pretty bad and…"

"How bad?" the General asked while Colonel Dixon crossed his arms over his chest and listened. He could hear the hint of anger in Colonel Pierce's voice as he relayed what the doctors on the Alpha Site had told him.

"She had ten stab wounds through her body- chest, abdomen, and… well… and her head had a stab wound too."

"Had?" the General asked over the radio.

"Those wounds were healed by a Goa'uld healing device the Tok'ra used but…" Colonel Pierce closed his eyes and then took in a deep breath as he remembered seeing the pale girl being placed a gurney in the infirmary hours ago. At that same time, the General and Colonel Dixon looked at each other in shock while Walter paled upon hearing what was done to the girl. The report was being heard by the other technicians in the Control Room, and they stopped to listen when Colonel Pierce continued, "she lost a lot of blood, General. It's a miracle that she's still alive."

"What's the prognosis?"

"It's touch and go even with the healing device, sir," the Colonel replied while Colonel Dixon shook his head, "the girl is in the operating room now. But the Tok'ra agent is still here in the Alpha Site. She's saying that she has to return to the Tok'ra homeworld."

"Belay that, I want the both of you through the Stargate for a full debriefing," the General ordered. The Colonel on the other side of the wormhole nodded his head just as Talia walk up to him saying that she was ready to leave. It was then that Colonel Pierce told the scowling Talia that General Landry wanted to be debriefed on Earth. Talia glared at the Colonel before saying she was already late in getting back to the Tok'ra homeworld. However, Colonel Pierce insisted, "The girl's been badly injured, you've seen her before healing the wounds... you've seen what else happened, and…"

"Which I have already told you," Talia reminded the Colonel.

"And now, the General would like to hear from you," the Colonel said as Talia crossed her arms over her chest and huffed, "he wants to hear everything from you personally, and then you can leave directly from Earth."

A part of Talia was telling her to stay longer to make sure that the girl was going to be fine. But Talia knew that staying longer would force her to stay closer to the girl.. she knew that a part of her would want to stay longer and longer with the girl. But Talia couldn't make any personal connection with the girl… she didn't want to make a personal connection with the girl. And it was something that the host and the symbiote agreed- the faster she left the Alpha Site and Earth, the better. 'I have done what I can.' Talia then stared at Colonel Pierce before nodding her head and saying that she needed to leave for her ship immediately after the debriefing.

"General, I'll gather the girl's medical records and then we'll come through the Stargate," Colonel Pierce said through the radio after thanking Talia for staying just a little bit longer. "We'll be at the SGC in ten minutes."

"I'll have Dr Lam attend the briefing with us," General Landry said.

It was ten minutes later that the Stargate activated once again and General Landry told Colonel Pierce to, "come on through," Meanwhile, Colonel Dixon, who the General had asked to join him since he was there when the report about the girl first came in ten minutes ago. The man found himself at the foot of the ramp thinking who would be so cruel as to repeated stab a little girl. He stared at the unstable vortex 'whooshing' outwards before settling into the event horizon while thinking about his five sons at home, 'if anything happened to them…' The Colonel shook his head not wanted to continue with that train of thought.

The Colonel was soon joined by General Landry who had just walked into the Gateroom when Walter, on the PA system, reminded Dr Lam to meet the General and Colonel Dixon in the briefing room. Just as General Landry whispered Dr Lam was on the way for the briefing, both Colonel Pierce and the Tok'ra agent walked through.

"Colonel Dixon, General Landry," Colonel Pierce said before motioning to Talia who had her hands behind her back as she stood in her uniform, "this is Talia, one of the Tok'ra's… well… I guess the right term would be equivalent to our Special Forces."

"Which explains the Sodan Cloaking device," the Colonel pointed out as Talia turned her head towards him and nodded her head before she closed her eyes; allowing her symbiote to take control.

" **I am Arisa. Greetings Colonel," Arisa said in the distinct gravelly voice before turning to General Landry, "and you as well, General. On behalf of the Tok'ra council, allow me to thank you for the use of the Sodan cloaking devices in our search and destruction of the Goa'uld underlords."**

"With us busy against the Lucien Alliance, I'm glad that someone's going after the Goa'uld," the General said before glancing at the Colonel and the files he was holding in both hands- one was an oversized folder that the General recognized as containing X-Rays, and the other file was a regular sized file that he thought contained reports. He then looked back at Colonel Pierce and asked, "how bad is this girl's condition."

" **The device managed to stop most of the bleeding, but she is still very weak," Arisa nodded her head.**

"Let's make our way to the briefing room," General Landry said motioning towards the Control Room. The group walked through the Gateroom, and then up the stairs to the control room, followed by the steel steps to the briefing room one floor above. There, Colonel Dixon saw Dr. Lam standing with her hand on the top of the briefing room table.

"General," Dr Lam nodded her head.

"Dr. Lam," General Landry said walking over to his seat before motioning towards the two strangers, "this is Colonel Peirce from the Alpha Site," Dr. Lam smiled and nodded her head while Colonel Pierce grabbed the top of the leather seat across from her, "and this is Talia. One of the Tok'ra's special agents for hunting the Goa'uld."

"Greetings, Dr. Lam," Talia said, the symbiote having transferred control of the shared body to Talia while they were walking up the stairs. She then looked at the other humans in the room and asked, "shall we begin?"

"Please," the General said motioning towards a seat, "take a seat." He then looked at Dr. Lam who was handed the two folders by Colonel Pierce, "Dr. Lam, about four hours ago, Talia arrived at the Alpha Site carrying a child."

"I recently completed a search and destroy mission," Talia said after the General asked her to report what happened, "I was about to depart when I heard a woman, the girl's mother I believe, scream. And that was followed by the cries of two children."

"Two?" Colonel Dixon asked while Colonel Pierce frowned. The latter was told by the Tok'ra what happened, and it still sickened him to hear Talia recount the sights and sounds back at Maegor's Holdsfast. And this time, Colonel Pierce could see from the expressions of the General, Dr Lam, and Colonel Dixon that they shared the same look of shock and anger that he himself must have expressed back at the Alpha Site. Talia told them about finding the girl bleeding on the bed from stab wounds, the baby beaten and lying dead on the floor with its head smashed, and the woman who was torn in half by the mountain of a man.

"Dear God," Dr. Lam whispered during a lull in the report by Talia, a lull so that they could absorb the sickening information. She then flipped open one of the files and stared at the first picture of the girl; her dress was torn and bloody all over, Dr. Lam saw the red stab wounds, which hadn't fully closed by the time the Tel'Tak reached the planet with the Stargate, still visible, "her bleeding stopped?" She asked looking up at Talia, and then Colonel Pierce who nodded their heads. She then looked back at the picture of the girl's body, her hands trembling at the sight and wondering what kind of a monster would have inflicted this much damage onto an innocent child.

Dr Lam turned to Colonel Dixon and then showed him the picture while she looked at another picture of the same girl from a different angle with the stab wound to her head mostly healed.

"The healing device took care of the internal soft tissue injuries," Talia said after noticing the look of sadness on Dr. Lam's face, "but I felt it best that she come here instead of the Tok'ra homeworld. She is human after all, and… well… the life of a Tok'ra isn't the life for a child."

"What's her name?" asked Colonel Dixon looking at another picture while Dr. Lam stared at an X-ray which showed several scars on the girl's lungs, liver, spleen, intestines, and kidneys. Dr. Lam was stunned that the girl managed to survive for as long as she did from the injuries- which were thankfully healed by the Goa'uld healing device. She then handed the X-Ray to General Landry who was staring at a picture of the bloodied girl before handing it to Colonel Pierce.

Talia shook her head before saying that the woman she assumed to be the child's mother yelled out two names, "she said Aegon and Rhaenys."

"Rhaenys sounds more like a girl's name," Dr. Lam whispered as she stared at the healed part of the girl's brain before reminding herself to have the doctors in the Alpha site perform a MRI scan for bleeding in the brain, aneurysms, and any other damage that the original injury may have caused. She knew that the Goa'uld healing device would have healed most of the girl's wounds, but Dr. Lam didn't want to take any chances. "Any idea why this happened?" she asked looking up at Talia.

The Tok'ra shook her head before saying there must have been some kind of a political upheaval, "I was cloaked when I entered the city and made my way towards one of the larger red coloured buildings. Even then, I saw armoured soldiers looting, killing, raping and… and I had a job to do- kill the Goa'uld underlord."

"How about her family? Any idea where they are?" Colonel Dixon asked.

"Other than her dead mother? None," Talia admitted, "I heard guards coming into the room, and so I left with the child. I cannot say if her father is still searching for her, or not. I cannot say if her family is searching for her, or not. I leave that up to the Tau'ri."

"Did she see anything?" Colonel Dixon wanted to know, looking down at the picture in his hands while imaging the day he saw his own parents killed at the Cairo Museum.

"I cannot say," Talia answered.

"Talia, I'd like for you to send us a databurst containing the location of the planet from your ship, as well as all sensor readings," the General said, with Daniel shaking his head and then looking back up at Talia who nodded her head. The latter mentioned that she needed to return to the Tok'ra homeworld for her next mission and that she would not be able to accompany them on any mission to find the girl's parents, "but I must tell you that the Stargate has somehow been blocked as we have not been able to make a connection."

"What else do you know?" Dr. Lam asked looking up at Talia from the open folder in her hand that contained medical reports.

"Nothing else," Talia shook her head before continuing, "that girl? It is a miracle that she survived."

"If it wasn't for the healing device, I think she'd be dead in the ship," Dr. Lam said after closing the file and leaning back on the seat, "her brain's been healed, according to the scans. But we'll only know if the blood loss affected her mind when she wakes up."

The General knew that all their ships were already on assignment; the Daedalus and the Apollo were stationed in Pegasus. The Sun Tzu, the Moscow, the Hammond, and the Odyssey were cloaked behind enemy lines in Lucien Alliance territory. The SGC received intelligence that the Alliance were planning the largest shipments of Kassa to their main production facilities in a week- the ships were waiting for those shipments, and then they were going to destroy the facilities, ships, and the unrefined Kassa once they reached the surface.

"I'll have the Odyssey redirected to the planet once her mission is completed," the General said nodding his head, "and that's not for another week."

"So, we wait?" Daniel asked.

"We wait," the General said.

However, it would be five hours after the girl's condition was supposedly stable following lengthy surgeries that she slipped into a coma.

**USAF George Hammond, in orbit of planet Illirianis, a week later.**

Once the Lucien Alliance Kassa mission was completed, the Hammond headed for the planet Illirianis thanks to the coordinates that were supplied by Talia. The ship first made a stop at P7H-837 to pick up SG-1 who was assigned by General Landry for the meet and greet since Colonel Dixon and his team were on another mission. Once SG-1 was briefed on the situation, they then went through the Stargate in a Puddle Jumper before taking it into orbit of '837 and then flying into the Hammond's hanger bay. And then once they were on board the Hammond, the group made their way to Illirianis. It was on board the ship that Colonel Carter was briefed by Daniel and Colonel Mitchell, the current SG-1 commander.

"So, the scanners from the Tok'ra ship haven't been able to detect any life signs?" the Colonel asked as she sat at the head of the briefing room table in the Hammond with was now travelling through hyperspace.

"Nope," Colonel Mitchell said while Vala took a seat next to him and both Teal'c and Daniel sat across from the both of them, "Talia scanned the planet from orbit, but all her sensors showed was that the planet had no inhabitants. She had to fly into the atmosphere before receiving any life signs on her sensors."

"It can be assumed that the Asgard scanner on the Hammond would be able to pierce through any interference," Teal'c said leaning forward, his arms on the table, "Colonel Carter, we have been told that the Asgard genetic scanners are prepared for testing on the Hammond."

"It should be at least," the Colonel said leaning back on her seat, "the information on the Asgard core had the instructions on how to tweak the scanners to search for an individual's genetic code, but it hasn't been tested yet."

"Looks like this is the best time," Daniel said before handing the Colonel a folder containing Rhaenys' genetic information. The Colonel took the folder into her hands before she sighed and asked about the girl.

"She's been transferred to the SGC," Daniel said, "but she's still in a coma."

"At least she's on Earth, and not the Alpha Site," Vala pointed out, "she'll be doing much better there."

"Probably," Daniel nodded his head at Vala before turning to Colonel Carter, "Sam, we brought the Jumper in case the sensors didn't work."

"We'll tweak the sensors on the Jumper to scan for genetic data, "the Colonel answered, "hopefully it works."

"Did the General say anything about what would happen if we can't find the parents? Or at least the father?" Colonel Carter asked.

"She'll be a refugee on Earth," Colonel Mitchell said.

"Just like Cassie," Colonel Carter whispered while remembering the young woman who was her god-daughter.

"Yep," Colonel Mitchell said.

"Okay," Colonel Carter sighed before she got up off her seat. When she stood up, the others did as well, "I'll have Lt Whelan set up the sensors on the Hammond and the Jumper. In the meantime, we have about an hour before reaching the planet. How about some coffee?"

"I could do with some coffee," Colonel Mitchell shrugged.

"Indeed," Teal'c replied.

"Good," Colonel Carter nodded at the door, "let's get out of here."

It would be an hour later that a blue hued breach opened over Illirianis and the Hammond shot out. Reducing speed while the breach closed behind her, the Hammond soon entered orbit and began scanning the surface searching for anyone related genetically to Rhaenys. However, there was a problem almost immediately.

"We can't scan the surface, ma'am," one of the crew, Captain Meyers, told Colonel Carter. The Colonel looked on in surprise before asking the young woman to make certain changes to the scanners… however, the scanners still could not go through whatever it was causing the interference. Colonel Carter sighed- she hoped that the sensors, the most advanced anywhere in the galaxy, would work, 'and it's a mystery why it doesn't,' Colonel Carter thought leaning forward on her command chair before pressing a button on the left armrest, "Colonel Mitchell, you have a go."

Colonel Carter then leaned back on her seat upon hearing Colonel Mitchell, who was piloting the Jumper about to leave the hanger bay, acknowledge the order. She then turned to Marks and ordered a full diagnostic on the sensor array before looking back at the forward viewport, "there has to be a reason why we can't scan anything."

"Colonel, Jumper One is away," Marks said. However, it would be a few seconds later that the Hammond would lose all sensor contact with the Jumper and the life signs on board. It was something that fascinated Colonel Carter who contacted the Jumper to make sure that nothing untoward happened to them. She was relieved upon receiving a message back and was surprised to hear that the Jumper sensors detected an unknown surge of energy upon entering the atmosphere.

"Can you detect a source?" Colonel Carter asked.

"We can't pinpoint a source," Colonel Mitchell responded looking at the readings on the holographic HUD in front of him.

"It's more like this energy is all around us," Vala noted while sitting on the co-pilot seat, "Sam, you really can't read us?"

"No," Colonel Carter replied, "this is one mystery we'll have to investigate. Anyway, for right now, are the tweaks working?"

"Stand by," the Colonel said, "entering the stratosphere and… oh, okay…" suddenly the HUD in front of them started to show life-signs beneath the cloud cover. The Colonel then pressed some buttons on the console so that the scanners could detect genetic code similar to Rhaenys. In a few seconds, Colonel Mitchell changed the direction of the Jumper to the South of the coordinates that were given to them by Talia. Unknown to the crew of the Jumper, they were travelling towards the Summer Islands and then over the Summer Sea towards Dorne. It was when they were close to Dorne that the HUD in front of Colonel Mitchell beeped with a red dot blinking at the western part of the Southern section of the continent they were approaching.

"Looks like we found someone," Daniel whispered.

**The Water Gardens, Dorne.**

Prince Doran of House Martell was the ruler of Dorne, and he was seething in rage. While the guards that stood around him, away from view, could see his calm demeanour as he sat at the edge of a bench staring at a pool of clear blue water surrounded by various flowers all around the edge. In truth, while his outward appearance was calm and collected- inside he was angry. He had been enraged ever since receiving the raven from Kings Landing with a message written by the hand of the new king, the one known as the Usurper, Robert Baratheon.

A letter that basically said his sister, his nephew, and his niece had been killed; that his uncle serving in the Kings-guard was killed battling alongside Prince Rhaegar who had also been killed. The very same Prince Rhaegar who had asked to see him in private several months ago in Sunspear, just as the war started.

"This is an insult to me and my family, this is an insult to Dorne!" Doran recalled raising his voice at the Targaryen Prince who stood across from him in a lavishly decorated room. Only Doran's most trusted guards were at the entrances to the room in order to prevent anyone else from entering. These guards, including Areo Hotah, were sworn to Doran and would hold his secrets in their hearts until the day they died. Doran strode up to the Prince with anger on his face, "how dare you annul the marriage with Elia so that you could marry the wolf-girl!"

"Prince Doran," Rhaegar said putting his hands up in surrender with a look of exhaustion, "you must understand… no," Rhaegar shook his head before continuing, "you must know that Elia could not give me any more children. She nearly died when she gave birth to Aegon, and…"

"Then have two children!" Doran yelled, his face turning red as Rhaegar looked away with his arms now hanging limply by his side, "why.. why did you…"

"The dragon needs to have three heads when the Long Night comes," Rhaegar said looking back at the outraged Doran.

"You sidelined my sister because of a stupid prophecy?!"

"It's the truth, the Long Night is coming, Doran," Rhaegar sighed before he sat down on the silk woven cushion on the couch behind him, "Uncle Aemon wrote to me of.. of strange things beyond the Wall. Beings with pale skin, blue eyes… and… and he spoke of the dead. He spoke of rangers who came back to Castle Black in fear while talking of Whitewalkers. Aemon spoke of Wildlings making it South into the Gift; Wildlings that claimed to be escaping something.." Rhaegar then sighed staring at the table in front of him, "I need a third child, Doran."

Rhaegar then looked up at the face looking back at him. And the Targaryen Prince felt tired. "I intend to take over from my father, Doran. He has to be removed. The raven I received recently carried a message saying that my father has killed Rickard and Brandon Stark, and he has asked for the head of Lyanna's brother, Eddard. That's what started the rebellion. He has to be removed, Doran."

"It was your spiriting away of the Stark girl that caused this uprising," Doran said in a much calmer voice as he sat down on another couch across from Rhaegar, "why did you not tell Lord Rickard about his daughter. Why did you not…"

"Lyanna… when she found out that Brandon and her father died… she.. she couldn't understand it, Doran," Rhaegar said recalling hugging the sobbing girl in his arms in a large room at what the Dornish called the Tower of Joy, "she assured me that a raven was sent to Winterfell. We were in a hurry, so she had a boy send the raven from Riverrun where she was due to be attending Brandon Starks betrothal to Catelyn Tully. She said that he was a friend of Brandon's. This war should never have come to be... the letter expressly detailed that I loved Lyanna, and that she loved me. I would love our child… Doran, our child would be the Prince that was Promised. He is the child of both Fire and Ice. I love Elia, I love Rhaenys, I love Aegon and.. and that is why even though our marriage is annulled so that I could marry Lyanna… Ellia and the children will have their royal titles by a royal decree. She would be my consort while Lyanna will be the queen- our children would be brothers and sisters."

"This is still an insult, Rhaegar," Doran had said.

"Which is why I give you this," Rhaegar sighed as he stood up and reached inside his tunic. He took out a scroll, sealed with the sigil of House Targaryen, and handed it to Doran, "this scroll legitimizes Elia and the children as part of the royal family with all the privileges and duties their titles would bestow on them." He then walked towards the door behind him, opened it, walked out into the hallway and then extended his hand to one of the guards who accompanied him to Sunspear- a guard standing next to Areo. Doran stared at the scroll in his hand before looking back up at Rhaegar close the doors shut once again. The Prince then walked towards Doran with an object wrapped in black and red silk, "this is another offering to you, the Prince of Dorne. It represents my promise that Elia and the children will be by my side, ruling together with Lyanna. It is a lost long artifact of my family that was recently discovered by Uncle Aemon."

"This is…" Doran said in surprise after he unwrapped the object Rhaegar handed him. It was a sword… one that he thought had been lost to the world. Doran then looked back up at Rhaegar who took a deep breath before nodding his head.

"When Rhaenys is of age, that sword would belong to her. It was built to be wielded by a lady after all."

"I…." Doran was out of words as he looked back down at the sword.

"And I cannot think of anyone else other than Rhaenys' uncles to teach her how to wield it," Rhaegar said. Doran then looked back up at Rhaegar, and although he was still angry about how his sister was treated, the man nodded his head in acceptance.

And then Rhaegar went to war with over ten thousand Dornish troops. And then all his promises ran down the Trident just as his blood. Elia and her children were killed- murdered by the Mountain on the orders of Tywin Lannister.

As Doran sat staring at the pool, he had no idea if Lyanna was alive… no one knew. It would be months later that Doran would discover that Lyanna died along with her child. But for now, all Doran thought about was his dead sister.

"Halt!" Doran was forced out of his thoughts as he looked up to see his men rushing to surround two men wearing unusual clothes. He saw the two men, one wearing a strange tunic over a shirt while the other one wore something similar except he had a golden tattoo on his forehead. Doran got up when the two men raised their hands as a signal that they were unarmed.

"We are here to simply speak to your leader," one of them, the light skinned man, said as he looked around at the guards that surrounded them. "It is important."

"Areo," Doran said walking over to them. He thought that the Watergardens were empty- the people heard what happened in Kings Landing to Elia and her children, and out of respect for House Martell, the people left the family to mourn privately. So Doran was surprised when strangers appeared walking towards his guards- especially since the guards at the entrance would have notified him first before allowing strangers inside during this time of mourning, "what is it?"

"My Prince," Areo, a large dark-skinned man with a halberd in his hand, said while staring at the man with the golden tattoo, and then the shorter man before turning to look at the Prince. "these two simply walked on the grounds out of nowhere. With your permission, I would like to have the water gardens searched for more intruders."

"Are you in charge?" the shorter man asked Doran.

Doran tilted his head at the man, and then at the one with the golden tattoo. It was a tattoo he didn't recognise, but thought that Oberyn might since he travelled to the far sides of the world. "I am afraid you have entered the Water Gardens at a time of mourning for me and my family. I would have Area escort you out, but you must call out any intruders who have come onto these ground without.."

"We apologize," Teal'c nodded her head slightly, "however, our need to speak with you is urgent."

"My name is Daniel Jackson, and this Teal'c," Daniel said nodded at Teal'c standing next to him. Unknown to Doran and the guards, the Jumper was cloaked above the group watching as the two members of SG-1 were surrounded by the guards, "we're here to talk about a girl by the name of Rhaenys."

**Infirmary, SGC, Colorado Springs, a month later.**

"Your hands are cold," a male voice whispered as Rhaenys walked towards a door in a white room.

"The.. the Maester said… said…" a panting woman whispered softly. Rhaenys could hear footsteps from beyond the door when the woman weakly called out, "please, stay with me."

"Here is some water," the male voice said as his footsteps hurried back towards the voice before gently saying "Drink."

After what seemed like eternity, Rhaenys placed her hand on the door and tried to push it open. But no matter how she tried, she couldn't. She closed her eyes, her bottom lip trembled as the sounds of voices started to go further away from her ears, "I… I cannot have another child." Rhaenys opened her eyes and tried to remember whose voice it was that was speaking. But for the life of her, she couldn't remember. She didn't know those voices, and as the voices started to go further and further away… she felt something grip her heart. A loneliness she couldn't explain.

"You must rest, and…" the male voice whispered before trailing off.

"Ours was a political union," the female voice whispered as Rhaenys' lower lip trembled when the woman's voice started trailing off in a whisper. The little girl tried to hear the voice beyond the door, but everything was in an unintelligible whisper. Rhaenys didn't know why she was crying as she placed her ear on the wooden door while straining to hear the voices of the woman as they faded slowly. The last words she heard was, 'prophesy' and then 'three' before there was complete and utter silence.

And then the darkness started to close in as Rhaenys sat down on the white marble floor and tears ran down her cheeks. She sniffed before bringing her knees up to her chest, and then the dam burst. She started to cry as the light around her darkened. She felt a sense of immense loss that she couldn't explain as she cried out, "mother! Father!" She knew she had a mother and father, but she couldn't remember them. No matter how much she tried, she couldn't remember them- not their faces, not their voices, not their scents… nothing.

"Mother!" Rhaenys cried out in between sobs, "father!" She screamed out in anguish as the darkness closed in around her with even the door behind her vanishing.

Once she was surrounded by darkness, Rhaenys heard a sound. It was a strange sound that went "beep, beep, beep," followed by a sound of someone breathing and a pressure building around the upper part of her left arm. A few minutes later, she left herself lying on something soft. Her body was warm but her arms were cool just like the three points of coldness on her forehead.

"Dr. Lam, she's waking up," Rhaenys heard a female voice call out as Rhaenys slowly opened her eyes to a bright white light from a tube overhead. She stared at the light, and then her eyes shifted to another tube next to it, and then another, and then another as tears came to her eyes. Rhaenys' first thought was, 'where am I?' and then 'what is a doctor?', and the last question frightened her as the tears flowed down her cheeks when she shifted her eyes to stare at the concerned brown-haired woman with brown eyes looking down at her, 'who am I?'

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

**The Water Gardens, Dorne, Westeros, three weeks ago.**

Doran frowned while he glared at the two men in his intricately designed and lavishly decorated solar, "I demand to know how it is you know that name." With Daniel and Teal'c request for privacy upon the mention of Rhaenys' name seeming grave, Doran led them to his Solar where only the three of them and Areo Hortah were in the room. The other guards were dismissed. Teal'c requested that Area leave the room as well since what they had to say was for his ears only, but Doran shook his head saying that Areo was the Captain of the Guard.

"And I stay by my Prince's side," Areo added.

"He keeps my secrets, any secrets, unless I deem otherwise," Doran said as he walked behind the table in his solar. He then placed his hands in the surface, leaned forwards, and demanded, "you mentioned Rhaenys. I ask you once more. How do you know that name? Were you there…. Wait, are you lackey's for the Lannisters?" Teal's and Daniel glimpsed at the muscles of Areo's bare arm straining while he gripped his halberd tight as Doran leaned forwards and hissed, "were you there when my sister and her children were killed?"

"Prince Doran," Daniel brought one foot forward. He was about to take a full step forward if it hadn't been for Areo bringing the blade at the end of his halberd down against his chest, signalling for the man to not move another muscle. And all Doran did was stare at Daniel, and then at the stoic look on Teal'c face before looking back at Daniel. 'The one with the tattoo looks and carries about as if he is a warrior, and this other one is… well, he is not a Maester or a warrior. But it seems that the Tattooed one is differing to this man?' Doran frowned before asking once again, "were you there when my sister and her children were killed?"

"We were not," Teal'c replied as Daniel had his hands up and took a step back while grimacing at Areo who pulled the halberd back, "we are from another place far away."

"I do not recognize your clothing," Doran said eying Teal'c and Daniel's clothes, "but since you say you are from far away, then it would make sense your clothes are not of Westeros. However, my brother has been to Braavos, Lys, Myr, and many places on the far edge of the known world but he has ever brought back anything like what you are wearing."

"I know this is going to sound strange," Daniel said.

"Indeed, it would be very strange," Teal'c added.

Doran glanced at Areo, who glanced at him, the both of them confused about what Daniel and Teal'c meant. The two of them then turned back towards their guests, and the Prince curtly told them to continue. He wanted to know what was so strange about they had to say, and then he wanted to know how they knew about Rhaenys, 'they cannot be from Drone. Not one House has the kind of clothes these people are wearing.'

"There's something you must understand," Daniel said as he put his hands into his pockets while Teal'c had his hands behind his back, "this is just one of many thousands upon thousands of other worlds that are populated by humans. We are from another entirely different world, and…."

Doran went from stunned silence to laughter in a few seconds. He was wondering what was so strange about the two people before him and now he knew, "you are insane." Doran sat down laughing while shaking his head while, at the same time, Areo tuned his head way from the Prince and chuckled, "do you believe they are insane, Areo?" Doran chuckled, his face turning red, tears of laughter threatening to run down his cheeks.

"I believe so, my Prince," the stoic Areo responded; the man was trying his best not to laugh at what Daniel just said. However, even he managed a chuckle.

"Prince Doran," Daniel said while he stood calmly, a smirk on his face while Doran continued to chuck, "an ally of ours was here on a mission to apprehend a criminal."

"An ally from another… another world?" Doran shook his head before breaking out in laughter once again while wiping his eyes.

"Indeed," Teal'c replied, "she neutralised her target, and just as she was about to leave, she heard screams. She heard someone, a woman she believes was Rhaenys Targaryen's mother, shout her name, and…"

Through his hazy vision of Teal'c, thanks to the tears of laughter running down from his eyes after the reveal that the two of them were supposedly from another world, Doran caught Rhaenys' name being spoken. And his laughter quickly subsided, as did the chuckles from Areo before the two of them simply stared at Teal'c and Daniel. Their expression's now serious.

"What are you saying? Are you saying that everything you said was the truth?" Doran asked, his voice quaking as realization dawn that no matter how impossible it sounded, that the two men in front of him may be telling him the truth.

"Our ally, Talia, finished her mission and was about to leave the city. Her job wasn't to save people, which is why she was about to leave," Daniel said as Doran's eyes went wide, "but she heard a baby cry. And…"

"What are…"

"The baby's cries were extinguished," Teal'c said before Doran could ask a question.

Doran's head snapped towards him and thought, 'a baby? Aegon? She heard Aegon die?'

Teal'c continued to speak, "it was then she intervened. Talia rushed into the room and broke down the door. She…."

"No," Doran said his heart racing at the thought that not only that the two people in front of him were possibly telling him a truth that he found unbelievable- about being from another world- but that Rhaenys was somehow, possibly, alive, 'why else would they come here to the Water Garden's. She must have told them, she must have told them about me and…'

"It was too late for the baby," Daniel whispered at the look of anguish on Doran's face before glancing at Areo, and then back at Doran, "Talia wrote a report that the baby had… had its head bashed against the wall." Daniel stopped speaking when he saw the anguish on Doran's face change to one of extreme anger upon hearing what happened to his nephew. It was a second later that the archaeologist continued to speak, "she mentioned at that a giant…."

"The Mountain," growled Doran as he looked back down on the table, and then at Areo who looked back at him with anger in his eyes. Shifting his eyes back to the two newcomers, Doran took control of his anger and said, "if.. if… that is true, then the only person who could have ordered him to…"

"Prince Doran, do you know who could have done this?" Teal'c asked.

"Tywin Lannister," Doran hissed nodding his head before he gasped and stared at Daniel and Teal'c with both eyes widened, "but I received a message that Elia… she... she died. How about Elia? Did your ally save my sister?"

Daniel looked at the desperation in the Prince's eyes before looking away, "sorry. By the time Talia broke into the room, this… Mountain? Well, he tore… he killed your sister." Daniel saw the rage in Doran's eyes as he continued to speak, "Talia saw what happened to your sister, she saw the aftermath of what happened to your niece and nephew. She saw that Rhaenys was bleeding badly with multiple stab wounds on her body. We counted nearly ten. She lost a lot of blood and… and Talia used a weapon that stunned this Mountain and then left with Rhaenys in her ship."

"Where did she sail?" Areo asked while Doran looked away from his guests and did his best to pull back the anger he felt, the hate he felt at the King and the Lannisters.

"A flying ship," Daniel motioned his hand rising into the air as Doran looked back at him, "I know you find it hard to believe, but we really are from another world. Talia transported Rhaenys to one of our people's bases on a world far away from here. On the way, she used a piece of highly advanced technology to stop the bleeding."

"You… you stopped that much blood loss?" Areo asked in surprise.

"How can anyone be alive, and…." Doran then stood up from his seat unable to speak. He was in disbelief- the more he believed the people in front of him, the more unbelievable information they were giving him. But he pushed those thought to one side and thought only about one person- his niece, "is… is Rhaenys alive?"

"She is alive, Prince Doran," Daniel assured him, "but she lost a lot of blood. Our doctors…." Daniel then saw the quizzical look on Doran and Areo's faces before saying coming up with a word that they could understand, "our healers did everything they could to stabilize her, and they succeeded. But we don't know how much brain damage there has been thanks to the blood loss and…" Daniel stopped talking as he steeled himself while he reached into his jacket. His fingers slipped into the inner pocket on the inside of his jacket and brushed the edge of the picture while he said, "after her condition stabilized, she slipped into what we call a coma."

"I don't understand," the Prince said walking around the table, his voice rising, "you said that she is alive."

"She is alive, Prince Doran," Teal'c explained, "as I understand it, this Mountain you referred to stabbed a knife into her skull as well." Hearing that, Doran had his eyes opened wide in stunned silence with his hands rolled into fists at the thought of Tywin Lannister ordering the Mountain to kill the Royal Family. At the same time, he listened to Teal'c continue saying, "The damage was healed by Talia, but Rhaenys Targaryen's mind now has to continue healing… the healing technology has done all it could."

"This is an image of Rhaenys as of yesterday," Daniel said as he took out a picture, and then handed it to Doran who reached out with trembling hands. Daniel explained that they had the technology to take images using a portable device, "it's like painting an image of one moment in time," he explained while Doran stared at the picture of a sleeping girl, her hair spread beneath her on a pillow with various items attached to her chest, arm, wrist, and a device that was attached to the inside of her niece. Doran took a deep breath, his mind pushing aside the fact that he was holding onto something that neither Westeros or any of the other nations had the technology to recreate.

Instead, he was staring at the picture of his niece in silent contemplation, 'this is the result of your folly, Rhaegar.'

"She is alive," Doran whispered looking back up, "she is alive?"

"Yes," Daniel nodded his head, "we've received bits and pieces from Talia when she rescued Rhaenys. But we don't know the background of why that city was being invaded, or…."

"The War of the Usurper," Doran whispered looking back down at the picture of Rhaenys, and then back up at Daniel. He then shook his head before turning towards Areo, "have some tea and sweets brought to my solar for our guests, we have much to speak of."

And so they did.

With the image of Rhaenys in his hand, Doran started telling the two newcomers about Robert's Rebellion. He spoke of Rhaegar, Elia, Aegon, and Rhaenys; followed by how the war began by Rhaegar spiriting away Lyanna Stark. He then mentioned the aftermath, including the rumours of what Robert Baratheon said when the bodies of the children and Elia were brought to him. However, Doran left some information out… such as the annulment of Rhaegar's wedding to Elia so that he could marry Lyanna- he simply felt that it was information not pertinent to Rhaenys. It would be nearly two hours and twenty five minutes later that Daniel and Teal'c had all the information the needed on the war that was won by Robert Baratheon.

"So let me get this straight," Colonel Mitchell hissed in anger back in the cloaked Jumper over Daniel and Teal'c ear-wigs after listening in on the conversation with Doran, "these people kill two children, one of them apparently a complete stranger, and they get off scot free? What the hell?" Back in Doran's Solar, Daniel and Teal'c brushed their fingers against their ears so that the earwig was deactivated once the Colonel started saying some explicit words that included the hope that the people who murdered the children had their private parts cut off.

"Prince Doran," Teal'c said leaning forward while keeping his anger in check over hearing Robert refer to the bloodied children as 'dragonspawn', "would your niece be safe here?"

"She belongs here," Doran replied staring at Teal'c, "here in Dorne. She is a Princess of Dorne, she is the niece to Viserys Targaryen, and.."

"Her father's family still lives?" Daniel asked with confusion. 'Didn't he say that the entire family was killed?'

"The last I heard was that Viserys was spirited away to the Free Cities by Targaryen loyalists with his baby sister," Doran replied, "but Rhaenys does not deserve that life. She is my family. She is a cousin to my daughter and son… she belongs to Dorne."

"But will she be safe?" Daniel repeated Teal'c's question in a gentle voice.

"We will keep her safe," Doran said in a commanding voice, his hands rolled into fists as they rested on his knees, while staring at both of them.

"Prince Doran, our world has gone through this type of upheaval at various points in our history," Daniel said shaking his head before describing how ancient royals would kill their kin to secure their hold on power, or how one family would kill the entire line of another family to obtain power and stay there. "You said that Robert hates the Targaryen's, that he could kill them all if he got his hands on them. And from what you say, this Tywin Lannister would know he killed the wrong girl… so he will search for Rhaenys to find and kill her if possible."

"If Rhaenys Targaryen stays here, would it not be possible she would be discovered?" Teal'c asked.

Before Doran could respond, Daniel leaned forward and said gently, "I don't mean to insult you or your people, Prince Doran. We want to do what is in Rhaenys' best interest. And… and so, I have to ask you once again, sir. Will Rhaenys be safe here in Dorne?"

Doran stared at Teal'c and Daniel while leaning forward. His thoughts went to his niece, and then immediately to what would happen if somehow word got out to Robert that Rhaenys was alive in Dorne, living under a new name. Doran was confident that Dorne would go to war to protect Rhaenys should an army led by Robert invade- he was confident that even Tywin Lannister and his forces could be beaten back by the Dornish army. But at the same time, that would mean thousands of deaths- especially when Dorne lost a little more than five thousand soldiers at the Trident when Rhaegar was killed.

"We will go to war against the King, against the Lannisters, against anyone who dares invade Dorne to put their hands on my niece," Doran said glaring at Teal'c and Daniel for a few seconds before looking away and sighing while closing his eyes.

"I have no doubt," Daniel said.

"We already lost so many in the rebellion," Doran said shaking his head and opening his eyes once again, "I know we will fight to protect Rhaenys, I know we Dornish would never give her up. We withstood Targaryen's when they tried to forcibly submit us to their will, and we can withstand the Usurper and the Lannisters. But that would mean more of my people dying." Doran stopped talking as he felt a sting in his heart as he thought about his sister, his dead nephew, and his niece. And he came to a decision, "will Rhaenys be safe on your world?"

"She will be," Daniel said while Teal'c glanced at the surprise on Areo's face when Doran asked if Rhaenys would be safe. "She is getting the best medical attention we have and…"

"She is a Princess," Doran reminded Daniel, "I want the best for her."

"She already has the best care, Prince Doran," said Teal'c.

Doran then looked back down at the picture in his hand as tears welled in his eyes, 'Elia, I do this for you. She is a piece of you that will continue to live on, and I want her to be safe. I know that if she is discovered here, Robert and his dogs will no doubt go to war. Thousands of our people would die. I care not for my death… Oberyn and I will fight off anyone who comes for Rhaenys until our dying breath. But I want her to be safe. I do not want her to be afraid for the rest of her life. I do this for you, Elia. My dear sister.' Doran then looked up and make a decision he hoped he would never come to regret.

**General Landry's office, SGC, three weeks later. Four hours after Rhaenys woke up from her coma.**

"She's calmed down now, dad," Dr. Lam said sitting back on the chair across from her father, the commander of the SGC, who had his arms on the top of the table, "when she woke up she was scared and calling out for her mother and father." Dr. Lam recalled how she rushed to the little girl's side when the nurse called out, and by the time she reached Rhaenys, the girl was already sobbing hard and crying out for her family.

The General leaned back and stared at his daughter as he thought about the briefing he had with Daniel and SG-1 following their talk with Prince Doran. The two of them reported on the events of Robert's Rebellion, the deaths of Ellia and Aegon, as well as the supposed death of Rhaenys once they returned to the SGC- the information on the latter stunned him.

'They killed an innocent child to cover for the loss of another little girl,' General Landry thought, with disgust, at that time at the briefing.

"We've gone through it too… I mean not us. In many ancient civilizations, if someone wanted to keep a hold onto the throne, they would have to kill any and all heirs," Daniel whispered that day while the others stared at the briefing room table. It was then that Daniel looked up and shook his head, "Prince Doran has agreed to Rhaenys remaining on Earth; and he has agreed to a good family adopting her, but he and his brother will have the final say on the couple. And he also wants to have send someone who can teach Rhaenys their customs, language, and culture."

Back in the present day, the General thought back to the deal struck with Prince Doran. The Prince would get weekly updates on the well-being of his niece via a ship that would stop-over the planet, and Rhaenys had to be placed with a good family on Earth.

The next stop would be one that would bring both good and bad news on her condition- Rhaenys was awake, but she lost her memories. All her memories. It was a scenario that the SGC had already planned for, and it was time put that plan into action.

**The Dixon Residence, Colorado Springs;**

The first time Lainie met David Dixon was when they were in Elementary School in St Paul, Minnesota. And since the first day they met, the both of them were inseparable. They grew up together, they went to middle school, and then high school together- the latter being where they kissed for the first time when they were Freshmen. They were each other's sweethearts, and eventually they married one another after the man who would later become a Colonel in the Air Force, joined the Minneapolis Polis Department.

Through their entire time together, from the moment they were children, Dixon told his future wife that he wanted nothing more than a tribe of kids with her. And now, as the chestnut shoulder length haired, brown eyed Lainie watched a romantic-comedy on her tablet while sitting on the couch in the couples Colorado Springs home, she thought back through her time with her husband.

Pausing the movie, the woman looked up at the pictures on the mantle and smiled at the thought of their four boys; Pete, the oldest, was fourteen, followed by Dave Jr, twelve, and then Rob, nine, and the youngest being Cameron, six. Leinie chuckled to herself when she remembered the Colonel saying that a girl would complete their tribe. They tried to have another child two years after Cameron was born, but was unsuccessful. They had been trying for the past few years to have another child, even after the move to Colorado Springs after her husband joined as a flight instructor at the Colorado Air Base combined with teaching duties at the Air Force Academy.

Lainie wanted to have a girl. Like the Colonel, she wanted to complete her tribe of children and felt that having a girl would make their family complete. Sighing, Lainie went back to watching the comedy just as the front door opened and her husband strode into the foyer.

"Dave?" Lainie said in surprise putting the tablet onto the couch while glancing at the clock on the wall and getting up onto her feet, "what're you doing back so early?"

"Lainie," he whispered walking into the living room with a thick blue coloured folder that Lainie noticed was embossed with the Air Force logo and on top of that was a brown coloured envelope. The man rushed over to his wife and then placed the folder and envelope on the coffee table before placing his hands gently on her shoulders, "there's something I need to talk to you about. I… I know I should have talked to you about this earlier, but…"

"Dave?" Leinie narrowed her eyes at her husband wondering what was going on, "what are you talking about?"

"I forwarded our names to my Commanding Officer as potential foster parents, and…"

"You want to adopt?" asked Leinie who spoke in a voice tinged with hurt. She thought to herself, 'he knows we're trying. We're trying so hard but… yes, I would consider adoption but… but not now… not until….' Lainie shook her head and forced those thoughts aside. She knew her husband very well. She knew that he wouldn't do anything without telling her unless there was a very good reason. Lainie told herself to hear her husband out while asking, "why didn't you tell me?"

"Because the work I do is classified, honey," the Colonel said.

"Dave, how is being a flight instructor classified unless… wait are you testing some plane that…" Lainie stopped speaking before a scowl appeared on her face, "you swore to me that you would not be testing any experimental planes, Dave."

"It's not any experimental plane," the Colonel said before motioning towards the couch. The two of them then walked towards the couch while Colonel Dixon continued to speak, "and no, I'm not teaching at the Academy." The Colonel could see that his wife was going to interrupt him as they sat down on the couch. But he placed a hand on her knee and gently asked her to listen, "just let me finish, Laini." The woman took a deep breath before nodding her head. The Colonel then reached for the envelope which lay on top of the folder and opened it before pulling out three sheets of paper. He then pulled his other hand away from her knee and reached into his chest pocket. The Colonel took out a pen before turning back to face his wife and handed her the pieces of paper, "what I'm about to tell you will be revealed to the entire world next year. But for right now, you can't tell anyone what I'm about to tell you."

Lainie read through the three pieces of paper with surprise on her face before looking back up at the Colonel, "Official Secrets Act? Dave, what are you into?"

"Lainie, I need you to understand that you can't tell the kids about any of this," the Colonel said, "you can't tell your mom, just as I can't tell my folks about this. Not even when what I'm about to tell you is public knowledge. No one can know what I do."

"Dave?" Lainie shook her head. She was getting confused at what kind of classified project her husband was working on.

"Please, Lain," the Colonel said reaching out and gently holding onto her arm, "just sign the NDA, and then I'll tell you everything you need to know." Lainie stared at her husband for a few seconds before looking back down at the pen in one hand, and the sheets of paper in the other hand. She then nodded her head, signed the papers, and then looked back up while handing them back to the Colonel. He then placed the sheets of paper back in the envelope before holding her hands, "I'm not an instructor at the Air Base, and I don't teach a class at the Academy. Back in the late 1930's, an expedition to Giza, Egypt, discovered a device hidden underground."

"A device?" Lainie asked, "what kind of device could be found buried underground in the 1930's?"

"An alien one," the Colonel said while Lainie stared back at him in disbelief, "it's called a Stargate. The eggheads back at the SGC…"

"SGC?"

"Stargate Command," the Colonel clarified while noticing the laughter that was about to erupt from his wife, 'she thinks this is a joke' he thought before leaning forward, "for the past few years, we've been sending teams of people- military personnel, scientists, diplomats- to other planets in the galaxy through what we call a Stargate. It creates a wormhole that makes us travel nearly instantly."

"Dave," Lainie chuckled shaking her head, "while I think this joke is funny, and…."

"I would never joke to you about this, Lain," the Colonel said in a serious tone of voice, a tone that Lainie knew meant that her husband wasn't lying. "I've seen things that… that I would have thought impossible. We've fought in an interstellar war against a race of aliens could have enslaved this planet just because we became a threat to them. We freed a race of people, fellow humans like us in many ways, who were enslaved to these aliens." Lainie widened her eyes as the Colonel placed a hand on her cheek. While she hoped that this was a joke, there was a part of her that knew her husband was being serious, "recently we've freed the galaxy from another enemy. A very powerful enemy that nearly enslaved this entire galaxy. An enemy that nearly killed everyone on this planet. Do you remember those news reports about that flu strain that supposedly escaped from a lab in Boulder a few years back?"

"Yea," Lainie said remembering the incident that lasted nearly a week and ended after a cure was created and then distributed. However, while a cure was discovered, it didn't help the twenty thousand people who died, "Dave, what are you saying?"

"The alien race, the Ori, attacked Earth with some kind of a biological weapon," the Colonel said, "we lost some people too, but we also had the smartest people working on a cure. In the end, another alien race helped us with a cure… and that was that. We survived. We spread the cure on Earth and to many other planets that were affected. We've defeated this alien race.. it took a lot of sacrifices, but we beat them. And now we're exploring the galaxy, honey."

"You're not kidding, are you?" Lainie asked staring in his eyes. But there was no deception, "you're not lying."

"Now we're using the Stargate to explore, to meet new people, to trade, to create military and scientific outposts," the Colonel said before pointing up at the ceiling, "one of our ships is orbiting the Earth as we speak."

"Ships?" Lainie asked awestruck, "you mean spaceships?"

"We have a few," the Colonel shrugged as Lainie looked away and chuckled before turning her head to look back at him.

"You're not joking," she chuckled, "you… oh my God, Dave…"

"I love what I do, but I hated keeping this a secret from you," the Colonel said before looking away at the file on the coffee table and whispered, "but sometimes there are things I wish I could unsee." He then turned back to stare at his wife who nodded her head before asking him about what he had seen, "there are many things I wish I could unsee. But that's not why I was given permission to tell you about the Stargate Program, honey."

"Something to do about an adoption?" she asked.

"About three weeks ago," the Colonel said while reaching out for, and then grabbing the file that he then handed to his wife, "an ally of ours came through the Stargate carrying a…"

"Oh dear God," Lainie said covering her mouth with one hand as she stared in shock at the picture of the blood covered girl in the file. The Colonel then relayed to Lainie all he had learned about the girl and then pointed at the report that Daniel and Teal'c had written on their initial encounter with Doran, and then a report on the current situation with the girl already awake.

"She doesn't remember anything, honey," the Colonel said while Lainie remained focused on the picture of the bloody girl as she wondered how it was that anyone could have hurt her like they did. In the meantime, the Colonel continued speaking, "she doesn't remember where she's from, nor does she remember her own name. She's just been calling out for her parents, but she doesn't know who they are."

"But her family on the other planet, they… they'll want her to… to be returned to them."

"The Prince wants his niece to be with a loving family and most importantly, he wants her to be safe," the Colonel said, "he… he knows that it would be dangerous for her and their people if she remained close by."

"Poor thing," Lainie whispered looking down at Rhaenys picture, "but you know who she really is?"

"Her name's Rhaenys Targaryen," the Colonel said with Lainie looking up at him, "Princess Rhaenys Targaryen."

"A Princess… oh no," Lainie looked back at the picture and then back up at her husband once again, "you mean… she was nearly killed because someone didn't want her line to live? I mean her family line?"

"Yeah," the Colonel said, "but we already have a manufactured background for her if… if you agree to the adoption. She's going to be the daughter of a friend from Toronto who died on the way to visit us. They died in a car crash and she was badly injured when the both of us were notified. We have a new identification set up for her, and…"

"This was done awfully quickly," Lainie pointed out before she looked back down at Rhaenys' picture. "A Princess… huh…" Lainie then chuckled before looking up at her husband, "it will be kinda ironic if her favourite movie happens to be The Princess Diaries." The Colonel stared at his wife for a second before he started to laugh out loud, as did Lainie while shaking her head. It would be a few seconds before they stopped, and Lainie just stared at the picture, her heart-breaking at the thought of the girl nearly dying.

"There's something else, Lain,' the Colonel said after he wiped away tears of laughter, "the plan is to bring Doran, or one of his representatives, to Earth so that they they could check in on her and confirm that we're telling the truth about her amnesia. They'll be identified as a friend of her family since…" the Colonel rubbed the back of his head, "well, with her current memory loss, we're afraid that telling her the truth about who she is will further confuse her. And if she remembers who she is once meeting Doran or whoever he sends us, then that's all well and good. We can tell her the truth, and why she needs to be kept safe."

"Dave," Lainie said placing a hand on his arm, "she still needs to know the truth. We can't hide away who she really is, we cant keep her away from her customs, and culture, and language. Like you said, if she remembers who she is, then that's good. But if she doesn't remember, and if we keep her away from the truth for a long time then… then she will hate us."

"If she doesn't remember anything even after meeting Doran," the Colonel said gently, "then we'll hold off telling Rhaenys the truth until she turns seven years old."

"So, we'll tell her that she's from another world when she turns seven?" Lainie looked back down at the picture in the folder, and he heart went out to the little girl. She then looked back up at the Colonel who stared back at her silently. It would be a few seconds later that Lainie continued, "I… I guess that's understandable. She may not be at that age to understand everything that's happened now or… or even if she does, then she could say something to others and have people think she's just saying things to get attention or…" the rest was left unspoken. But the subtext was there as the two of them looked at each other silently; they didn't want Rhaenys to be ridiculed by others if she blurted out that she was from another world.

"She'll know the truth of who she is. She may not remember even then, but she will know her heritage," Colonel Dixon said, "and hopefully she'll understand we just wanted to keep her safe."

"That's true," Lainie whispered before looking back down at the picture in her hand, "we tell her she's from another world when she turns seven."

The Colonel then went on to say that the SGC would have Doran send someone a few days a week to teach Rhaenys about her world, their customs, language, and culture, "maybe we could bring Doran or his brother, or someone familiar which Rhaenys' parents over to Earth so that she'll have some family in her life."

"If she decides to return to her world?" asked Lainie, who felt a sharp sting in her chest at the thought of the little girl in the picture being in danger back on her own world, "Dave, what if she goes back and she's hurt, or.. or killed? She's a royal heir, if her parents' enemies find out she's alive, then…"

"She'll have to decide where she wants to live when she's eighteen," the Colonel whispered as he each out and pulled in his wife for a tight hug, "she could remain on Earth, or on her world, or she could stay on both worlds if she wants to. We could ask Doran if he'll let us install a Stargate somewhere in his territory so that Rhaenys could have a link to both homes."

Holding on tight to her husband, Lainie realized that she wanted to take care of Rhaenys; that she wanted to adopt the little girl. It didn't matter that Rhaenys was from another world, or that she was a Princess; what mattered was that the girl needed a family now more than ever. 'She already has family,' Lainie reminded herself as she pulled away and looked into her husband's eyes, 'but she needs somewhere where she can be safe, a place where she can grow up without any fear that she could be hunted and killed – even if she was with her own family on her homeworld.'

"We… we'll need to convert your study," Lainie said with a smile as tears of joy welled up in her eyes, "we'll have to tell the boys."

'I want to care for her, I want her to be safe,' Lainie thought with a smile on her face.

"So, are you saying yes?" the Colonel asked in a hopeful voice as Lainie stopped talking, sniffed, and then wiped the tears that were now falling down her cheek while she smiled, "our tribe is complete?"

"Yes," Lainie whispered nodding her head before leaning in to kiss her husband, "our tribe is complete. With Rhaenys, it's complete."

TBC.


	4. Chapter 4

**The Throne Room, more than a month after the rebellion.**

It was only a month ago that Tywin Lannister lay the bodies of the Princess Elia, the babe Aegon, and the girl who was intended to take the place of Rhaenys lay on the marble floor of the throne room. The man people called the Grand Old Lion of the Rock watched with cold eyes as the dragon skulls were being carried out of the throne room to the lower dungeons. And in the meantime, the new king, despite still being injured, was whoring and drinking while at the same time intending to wait on the return of Lyanna Stark… his love.

'Love,' snorted Tywin as he turned and walked out of the throne room and into the hallway which was now lined with banners of both Lannister and Baratheon, 'no matter, if found alive, Lyanna Stark will meet with an accident. And if she is found dead? Well… either way, Cersei will be queen. And it would be the Lannisters that control the kingdom, not Robert.'

Tywin turned into another corner as Lannister Red Cloaks walked past him, 'now, the problem is Rhaenys. Clegane claims a woman used magic on him before he collapsed' Tywin scoffed thinking about the Mountain's explanation of the mysterious woman who fired blue bolts at him. 'But he assures me that the girl was stabbed more than ten times… that would account for the blood-soaked sheets which makes the body's disappearance that much stranger. Why would anyone want a dead body?'

The Old Lion believed there were still Targaryen loyalists in the Red Keep, 'of course there are'. His thoughts turned back to what Clegane told him after regaining consciousness, 'he is mistaken. There is no magic. But that still brings the question of how the Mountain was brought down. And how did the loyalists who took Rhaenys escape,' Tywin then stopped walking and came to a realization, 'the Mountain climbed the walls outside the holdfast to the royal apartments. The loyalists could have done the very same thing.'

Narrowing his eyes as he continued on his way through the hallway, 'no matter, my spies are everywhere. I will hear about this girl if she is alive, and if she is?' A smile crossed his face, 'then she will die. However, it is more likely she is dead… at least judging from the amount of blood on the sheets,' Tywin's thoughts then turned to the last confirmed Targaryens who were running away to the free cities, 'Viserys will never be king. He and the babe will never be able to return to Westeros. If I know Robert, he would be already planning to send assassins to kill them.' Tywin walked down some steps, 'the age of the dragons are over. Now comes the age of the lion. With Cersei and her children with Robert, the Lannister dynasty will last for over a thousand years.'

**Elsewhere in the Red Keep, at the same time.**

Varys always knew that he was going to be successful eventually for the pain his family had to endure. Ever since the mysterious voice whispered in his ear the day his privates where burnt, Varys knew he would have to find a way to return his family to the pedestal they should be occupying.

Now, as he looked out the window in his official chambers to Blackwater bay, a small smile crossed his face at thinking, 'I am glad I was not heard' while, at the same time, thinking about his whispers in the ears of King Aerys before Pycelle convinced the Mad King to open the gates to the Lannister army. He then turned his head to the scroll that lay on the table, played with his silken sleeves, before looking back out the window once again.

The smell of shit, piss, and death from the city was repelled by the perfumes and oils he dabbed on his robe, but the stench of the dead bodies he had seen in the throne room remained with him in his memory. No matter how he tried, he couldn't push back the mental image of Elia, Aegon, and Rhaenys' mutilated bodies.

'Elia was torn apart, Aegon had his head bashed in, as did poor Rhaenys along with the stab wounds,' he thought to himself thinking back to the shattered faces of the children when they were presented to Robert. Vary sighed shaking his head before thinking back to the child he was informed of by his cheesemonger friend from Pentos nearly a year ago.

'The Mad King was never going to listen to me, but I voiced my thoughts against opening the gates to Kings Landing for the benefit of Pycelle. And now the realm is shattered." Varys smiled at the formation of the first crack- the Tourney at Harrenhall. The bald Master of Whispers heard that the Tourney was really a front- the actual purpose was to call a Great Council led by Rhaegar which would enable the Prince to gain support in overthrowing the Mad King. But Varys couldn't allow that… he couldn't allow peace to reign under the beloved Prince Rhaegar. And so, he informed the Mad King of the whispers which eventually resulted in the first public appearance in many years of the king.

And since then, Varys stood in the shadows. It was that day though that other events that not even Varys could have predicted occurred- the first crack in the stability of the realm occurred upon the defeat of three knights at the hands of the mysterious Knight of the Laughing Tree. The King grew so paranoid thinking that that the Knight was sent to kill him that he promised gold and Lands for anyone who captured the mysterious Knight and brought him the head.

'The cracks will take a long time to heal, and I will do what I can to make sure they do not. At least not until the true king of Westeros has returned to the Iron Throne.'

Varys chuckled, and then turned before taking small steps towards his table, 'after all, you do what you can for blood.'

**Water Gardens, Westeros, at that same time.**

"Have you gone mad? People from the stars?" hissed an enraged Oberyn as he moved his arms about animatedly while walking alongside Doran, whose gout wasn't so bad that he needed his wheelchair, "our sister, niece, and nephew have been murdered and you jest?!". Instead, the latter took small strides with a walking cane on the sandy beach while the ocean waves crested and then rolled gently onto the shore. Doran stared at his enraged brother who returned from Essos a few hours ago while a frown remained in his face. Turning back towards the beach laid oud before him, Doran recalled the very reason he chose this particular location. It was the risk that one of the many 'birds' of Robert's Master of Whispers, Varys, would be able to listen in to the conversation that Doran wanted to have with his brother about their niece and her current location away from the Water Gardens or Sunspear.

Therefore, instead of staying in the Water Gardens, Doran bid they take a walk on the beach where there was no one present- and their voices could be hidden by the sounds of the waves. As they walked upon the yellowish sands, the water from the waves rolled over their bare feet as they walked at the waters edge, Doran looked around at the empty beach before swearing Oberyn to absolute secrecy. And once the frowning Oberyn reminded Doran he had his absolute confidence, Doran sighed and then revealed the truth.

And that resulted in the present situation where Oberyn was enraged at Doran for joking around in regards to the death of their family in Kings Landing. Oberyn suddenly gripped Doran's right arm tight and stopped walking. The action forced Doran to stop as well before he turned towards the red faced Oberyn who looked as if he could cut through an entire army by himself to gain vengeance on Elia and the Children's behalf. "Now that we are done with this jest," Oberyn said staring hard into Doran's eyes, "and let us not ever jape about the death of Elia and her children. When are you calling the banners? We must…."

"Rhaenys is not dead, that's those people told me," Doran said taking his left hand into his left pocket. Oberyn shook his head while biting his upper lip in anger. Doran knew that Oberyn loved Elia and the children more than him- the latter was especially fiercely protective of Elia and the children, 'I love her too, Oberyn. I will always love our sister and her children. Which is why I agreed to this for the sake of our niece.'

"You surely cannot fall for such trickery," Oberyn growled at his brother with hands rolled into fists, "you surely cannot fall for this Lannister jest."

"Rhaenys is alive, and there is proof," Doran handed Oberyn the picture of Rhaenys taken out from his pocket, the very same picture that Daniel had given him the first time they met a week ago. Oberyn narrowed his eyebrows staring at the picture and stared at the figure depicted on it. His fingers were brushing the surface while mumbling "this is not a painting" and then turning it over to the rear white coloured portion of the picture, and then turning it back to the picture of Rhaenys once again. Doran saw his brother's hand trembling, as he placed a hand on Oberyn's shoulder with his left hand and whispered, "she is alive. She is in what these people called a coma. But she is alive and being well looked after by their Maesters. Or rather their healers. Their physicians."

"I… I…." Oberyn stared at the picture in his hand before looking up, his rage fading and giving way to disbelief, "Doran, what you said was…"

"The truth?" Doran finished nodding his head, "yes. I had the same reaction you did, brother. I believed it a cruel jest as well. A jest that I admit to laughing. But given there is nowhere I know off that can produce a painting as well drawn as that? I have to admit there is truth in what those people have told me."

"Elia? How about Elia? And Aegon?" Oberyn looked up from the picture at Doran. The latter thought to himself that Oberyn, with hope in his eyes, looked so much like the boy he used to be years ago before becoming the warrior standing in front of him. Doran took in a deep breath while the hand on Oberyn's shoulder gently squeezed.

"They have passed, my brother," Doran shook his head, "their ally, the same woman who saved Rhaenys, claimed that Aegon was already dead. She claimed that the Mountain tore Elia apart… she could not do anything for them. But the woman saved Rhaenys, she saved a part of our sister."

"Tell me everything, Doran," Oberyn whispered while staring at the picture and placing a hand on Doran's shoulder, "from the beginning. I want to hear again. This time with ears that are more willing to listen. Please." The sounds of gentle waves, out on the far edges of the beach away from listening birds, browned out the sounds of the voices of two brothers.

Oberyn listened intently to what Doran was saying- occasionally staring at the picture of the sleeping girl on the picture.

'Humans from another world rescued our niece,' Oberyn thought as the two of them continued their walk, 'another world. One of thousands.' Oberyn looked out at the horizon in disbelief- his niece was alive. He turned back to the picture as they continued their walk, 'By the Seven. She's alive.' Oberyn shook his head. This was impossible. It was supposed to be something impossible, but the truth was in his hands.

She was alive.

"They asked for paintings of Elia and Rhaegar," Doran whispered after stopping again, turning his body, and looking out towards the horizon and the clear blue water, "they believe they could use their technology to create a manipulated copy similar to the image in your hand with their dress conforming to their world." As they talked, Doran thought back to the meeting where it was Daniel who explained the need for the paintings.

"When Rhaenys does wake up, we would need to make sure that she can remember who she is, who her parents are, where she's from," Daniel explained a week ago in Doran's solar, "we'll also need to know when she was born."

"I can have all of that prepared, but the paintings will take three days at the least," Doran said, "you do understand the need for me to pick the best painter in Dorne to reflect who my sister as a Princess of Dorne. And I will have one commissioned of Rhaegar as well." Doran could see then that Daniel and Teal'c noticed the difference in tone of how he mentioned Elia and Rhaegar- one was out of love, and the other name was said with some anger.

Daniel, understanding the anger, nodded his head and then explained the paintings would be developed into another medium, like the photo in Doran's hand, after it was manipulated. He explained that the bodily features of the couple would be kept exact, with the only things changing being their clothes to reflect Earth clothes.

"And the original paintings will be given to Rhaenys once she is seven years old, and able to understand the situation," Daniel swore, "in the meantime, the paintings will be preserved in a secured area where it would remain as good as new."

Back in the present day, Doran finished, "she will be kept safe, Oberyn. I want this for her. I want her to be away from the Lannisters and Baratheon's, and…."

"And the Starks," Obery's anger flashed again as he looked up from Rhaenys' picture.

"I received news from my own spies in Kings Landing," Doran whispered as an image came to his mind of the bodies of Elia, Aegon, and the poor girl who was supposed to be a replacement for Rhaenys. They lay on the floor of the throne room- their bodies wrapped in red Lannister cloaks to hide the blood, "Eddard Stark was the only one in the room to protest what happened. He was livid at Robert and…"

"Doran," hissed Oberyn, his eyes welling in tears at the still bittersweet news that his sister and her son died, and that their niece lived but was taken out of their hands, "that does not excuse…"

"The only reason he took part in the war against Aerys was because the Mad King killed his father, his brother, and Rhaegar stole the Lady Lyanna," Doran said. And while he loathed to lie towards his brother about the real reason behind the supposed kidnapping of Lyanna Stark- especially since he swore to Rhaegar not to tell anyone the truth until Rhaegar himself had won the war, Doran had to lie. To him, both he and Oberyn had their niece still among the living, and she was being kept safe, "he is as much a victim in this war." And Doran was wondering where Lyanna was being held. With Rhaegar dead, the location of Lyanna was still a mystery, 'the scroll Rhaegar gave me… as well as the sword are all being kept hidden and safe. For now, we have to be the anguished family. And that is something we will never hide.'

"And Rhaenys is safe? Are you certain?" Oberyn asked.

"You can ask the people taking care of her yourself," Doran said much to Oberyn's surprise, "they are returning with a report on her health soon."

"Very well," Oberyn said looking out at the horizon, "what do we do now?"

"Our sister and our nephew are still dead, I will wager on my life that Tywin Lannister ordered an innocent little girl murdered in place of Rhaenys- her life will also have to be answered for," Doran said calmly. Oberyn knew this side of his brother. The calmer he was, the more enraged, "Rhaenys was on the verge of death… so near the proverbial cliff before being rescued."

Oberyn continued staring out at the horizon and nodded his head before looking at the picture in his hand once again.

"The Lannisters will be destroyed. It may take years, but they will be destroyed," Doran said before his eyes glanced at Oberyn, "for now, to prevent reprisals during such a weakened state, Dorne will have to at least rattle the Stags and the Lions."

Oberyn glanced at his brother who continued, "the Spider has his birds in Dorne. I want you to do what you would do if all of our family had died. Make your call for me to call the banners as loud as you can."

"Very well," Oberyn looked to his brother.

"We will gather our strength once again," Doran whispered as his grip on the cane tightened. Dorne had been severely weekend with the loss of over seven thousand out of ten thousand soldiers at the Trident, something Doran was very aware off… and why he wanted to avoid another war right now, "make no mistake though, Oberyn… of Robert should enter Dorne…"

"I will cut off his legs," Oberyn finished while Doran nodded his head.

"They still killed Elia and Aegon," Doran calmly added.

"Yes," Oberyn replied looking out at the horizon.

Doran then sighed while thinking, 'no, he needs to be told. Oberyn needs to know about… about the truth. If Elia, Aegon, and Rhaenys died… if all three of them died then there would be no reason to reveal this secret. But with Rhaenys alive…' Doran glanced at Oberyn and said, "Rhaegar came to me before riding out to Kings Landing."

"What do you mean? He was here?" a surprised Oberyn growled, "and you… you knew he discarded Elia and you let him.."

"He annulled the marriage with Elia," Doran said turning to faced his enraged brother. The man placed his hand gently on Oberyn's shoulder before continuing, "he had what he thought a good reason. I…" Doran saw Oberyn's body tremble in anger while the Red Viper gritted his teeth, "I said my peace with him. That setting aside Elia was an insult, and that the result of him taking Lyanna Stark without notice was stupid and short sighted."

"He insulted us!" Oberyn yelled.

"He did," Doran whispered calmly, "but Rhaegar insisted the Stark girl handed a letter to a friend of the Tully woman who was to marry Brandon Stark." Doran bristled in calm anger at not knowing the name of the person who was handed the letter.

"Thousands of people died, Doran!" Oberyn yelled while he pointed at the direction of the Water Gardens in the distance, "our uncle, Elia and Aegon were killed… and Rhaenys was hurt badly! The kingdoms have been thrown into chaos and…"

"I told Rhaegar all of that," Doran whispered looking towards the horizon while his body faced Oberyn, "he didn't understand why Brandon and Rickard Stark went to Kings Landing demanding he be brought to justice for kidnapping and rape."

"Who?" Oberyn asked enraged, "who was this boy who knew the truth?! Who did the Stark girl…?!"

"Lyanna never mentioned his name to Rhaegar, just that he was a friend of the Tully girls," Doran said looking back at Oberyn, "Rhaegar was going to depose Aerys after the war and reinstate Elia as Queen once he ascended the throne." Doran could see Oberyn was surprised upon hearing this before continuing, "it's not unusual, Aegon the Conqueror had two wives – two queens."

"And he thought this would lessen the insult?"

"Perhaps," Doran said, "except Elia agreed."

"She wouldn't have.. not…"

"Rhaegar was obsessed with a prophecy," Doran revealed as Oberyn narrowed his eyebrows in confusion, "the dragon needs three heads, the Long Night, the coming of the dawn. He needed a third child. Elia would die if she was to give birth again. And…" He could see that Oberyn was about to say something, instead Doran asked him to wait before continuing, "and he loved Elia. Even though his marriage with our sister was a political one.. there was affection there. But he truly loved Lyanna Stark. At least that was his claim."

Doran saw Oberyn's mouth shut before attempting to say anything out loud. A small smile came upon Doran's face before revealing, "Lyanna would have been the second Queen, and her children behind Aegon and Rhaenys in the line of succession. And unlike before, he wrote it down in parchment so there would be a lesser chance of another Dance of Dragons."

"But.."

"And to show he meant every word he said," Doran continued, "Rhaegar left an artefact… a very important Targaryen artefact in my hands. It was supposed to be a gift for Rhaenys when she came of age."

"Doran?" Oberyn shook his head ignoring what his brother had said as he tried to keep away his anger, "it was still an insult. It does not excuse the fact that Rhaegar.."

"Rhaegar made his mistakes," Doran said put a hand up before sighing and dropping the hand back to his side, "Elia… I loved Elia and our nephew and niece… you know this, Oberyn." Oberyn nodded his head with a frown on his face, "but this was Elia's wish. She never expected to die nor…"

"Justice," Oberyn growled, "I want justice for her, for Aegon, for… for Rhaenys."

"Like I said, the fact that Rhaenys lives cannot be revealed, at least not yet," Doran continued as he straightened his back, "we do what we have to do- it would be to others as if we have lost her as well. In the meantime, we make a plan for vengeance against the Lannisters." Doran then looked over to his brother, "and when the time comes, the Red Viper will strike out from the grass and kill all our enemies."

"I want to take away everything that belongs to the Lannisters," Oberyn said, "and the Stag King."

"We will," Doran answered.

Oberyn looked back down at the picture without a smile on his face at the thought of what he just learned, "do you have a plan?"

"I will," Doran whispered, "I will."

**The Dixon Residence, two days later.**

The first time Rhea discovered her own name was just after she was told by the man known as General Landry that her parents and her baby brother were killed in a car accident. That was two days ago, and the man had been sitting with her as she cried whilst laying down on her side. It wasn't just the fact that her family died which brought about the emptiness in her heart after it shattered, it was also the fact that she had no idea what a car was, or what her parents and baby brother looked like. Nor did she even remember their names.

Rhea had no idea that their names were, as revealed by the General, Richard and Eleanor Tanner. She had no idea her brother was named Aaron, nor did she have any idea that she was from a city known as Toronto. She had never heard of Toronto, nor had she ever heard of Colorado Springs, her current location. She had no idea of anything that was being revealed to her, 'I can't remember anything'. As she lay down on the bed crying with tears streaming down her cheeks, she felt a hand on her arm. She opened her eyes and stared at the General's kind face through tearful eyes.

"It will take time for you to remember who you are and who your parents are," he gently said a couple of days ago as he sat next to Rhea's bed, "the accident caused you to lose your memories… something known as amnesia. We don't know if you'll ever get your memories back or.."

"My.. my papa? My Mama? My brother," Rhea had whimpered. The expression on the General's face said it all, she may never recover the memories of her family. And that made her close her eyes as she sobbed.

It would a few hours later that Rhea, as she lay on her side with dried tears stained her cheeks, met both David and Lainie Dixon. They introduced themselves as friends of her father, with David having been Richard's high school friend back in Minnesota. Not that Rhea knew what a Minnesota meant, she just felt a sense of relief that she was speaking to people her father had known for a long time.

It was Lainie who asked Rhea if she could sit next to her; to which the latter nodded her head. She shifted to the left of the bed while still lying on her side as Lainie sat down next to her and placed a hand gently on her cheek.

"We'll be taking care of you," Lainnie whispered gently as she stroked Rhea's cheek. Unknown to the little girl who had her eyes closed, Lainnie was looking back at Colonel Dixon and the General before looking back down at the little girl. She imagined Rhea's body riddled with all those stab wounds- and immediately her ears starting to become warm in anger. She gently told Rhea that they were going to do everything possible to help her get her memories back, "but in the meantime, our boys are looking forward to meeting you."

At hearing that both Lainie and the Colonel had children of their own, Rhea felt a sense of immense loss that she couldn't explain. She told of the loss of her family, but there was something else as well. Something that was tugging on her heart as Lainnie spoke of her four boys. Rhea couldn't explain her feelings however. So she simply listened as Lainie and the Colonel talked about how Pete and the boys were getting a room ready for her.

"We've contacted the Canadian authorities and asked them to send over any belongings that belong to your parents," the General said as he sat on a chair next to the bed while the Colonel stood by Lainie, "our hope is that the belongings we receive, such as pictures, will help you remember."

'And if she remembers, then she'll also remember what happened to her,' Lainnie thought to herself while looking down at the little girl curled into a ball.

It would be two days after meeting the Dixons for the first time that Rhea was given the go-ahead to leave the SGC. The little girl remembered being carried through the hallways, passing numerous people in different coloured BDU's- which Colonel Dixon explained- and several smiling at her. She was surprised, and a little afraid at the doors that opened up to what Lainie referred to as an elevator.

"I… I don't remember if I ever went into an… an elevator," Rhea said as she was carried in, her arms wrapped around the Colonel's neck. She looked around at the enclosed but brightly lit space and tightened her arms around the Colonel's neck.

"Don't worry," the Colonel said gently as he pressed the button for the seventh floor. After the doors closed, Rhea's felt her heart beating faster before releasing a yelped at the enclosed space they were in started to move upwards. She watched the symbols on the side of the closed doors continue to change until it stopped, and then doors opened to another hallway. "See," the Colonel gently told Rhea, "nothing to worry about."

"Do you remember anything?" asked Lainie. But all Rhea did was shake her head from side to side. Before long, they entered another elevator that brought them up to the lobby. It was then, as they left the lobby, that Rhea opened her eyes wide open in surprise at the structures visible to her once they walked out through the glass doors. She was staring at the giant pillars peppered in the vast cavern, and the objects that were standing still around them.

"Those are cars," Lainnie said as they walked out into the parking lot. Rhea held on tight to the Colonel as she recalled General Landry saying that her parents and brother died in a car accident. As if sensing her discomfort, Lainie placed a hand on Rhea's back and whispered, "the accident happened because your car drove over some black ice. It's not your parents fault, Rhea. It could have happened to anyone." Rhea wanted to know what Lainie meant by 'black ice', but her mind was jumbled as she was placed into the back of a large car, after which she was strapped down onto the soft seat. She then saw the door close before the door on the other side opened back up and Lainnie slipped inside to sit next to her. Rhea saw Lainnie reached out, and then gently hold onto her hand… and that calmed down the little girl.

She was going somewhere that would be her home, 'but papa, mama, I want to remember you two. I want my memories to return. I want to fill this hole inside me. Come back papa, mama, Aaron. Please come back. I want to remember you.'

TBC.


	5. Chapter 5

**En Route to Kings Landing, the Dornish Marches.**

Ned Stark held the baby in his arms while the wet nurse, Wylla, was in a corner of their campsite placing a flat rug on the ground near a large rock. The large fire preventing sufficient light and heat underneath the dark sky peppered with dots of light. He looked into the grey of the baby's eyes and mentally thanked the Old Gods that the child didn't seem to have any of Rhaegar's identifying features.

'At least he doesn't have the silver hair and lilac eyes,' Ned thought to himself as the baby whose hair was as dark as his own and Lyanna's, and who hardly cried in his arms, stared up at him, 'Lyanna, what happened? Why did you say his name was Aegon Targaryen? Were you and Rhaegar married? Then how about the Princess Elia? Why did you not tell me? Or Father? Or Brandon?' Ned knew there were so many questions to ask… questions that couldn't be investigated or asked out loud. Not while Robert was the king. He didn't want any questions to be raised about the baby's birth through any investigations.

"My Lord," Ned looked up from the baby and his eyes focused on the dark-haired, bronze skinned woman walking towards him. Wylla, her name was, Ned recalled nodding his head. She then continued, "I will have to feed the child."

"Of… of course," Ned said, his face turning red, as he handed the baby to Wylla and then took a step back while the woman turned to walk towards the large rock. Ned then stood watching as the woman sat down on the rug, leaned back against the rock, and then the process of shedding the left side of her blouse. The Lord of Winterfell quickly turned around, red faced with embarrassment, and then uttered, "I will be checking on the mounts."

"Of course, My lord," the woman replied.

Ned swore that she chuckled. But he didn't look back to make sure, he hastily walked towards the two horses, one of which was pulling a large cart with an intricately carved box that was covered with a grey and black cloak. The three mounts were tied to a tree, one of many that peppered the Dornish Marches, while a man was the head of one of the horses while feeding them.

"My Lord," Howland Reed, the last survivor of the battle to 'rescue' Lyanna, whispered as he looked back over his shoulder, and back to the horse who just took the apple in his palm into its mouth. As the horse chewed, the Cranogman stroked the left side of the horse's head, "how is the child?"

"He is being fed," Ned whispered as he placed a hand on the horse as well, "why didn't she say anything, Howland?"

"I cannot answer that question," Howland replied, turning towards his friend and Lord, "all I know is that the Lyanna I met long ago would not have allowed herself to have been kidnapped, nor raped."

"That was my first thought, that she would never allow herself to be taken," Ned whispered as he and Howland walked over to the over horse, a Dornish bred steed, and continued, "but when Jon received the missive that called for my head; when that same missive relayed my father's and Brandon's death… I believed that Rhaegar fell to his family's madness." Ned shook his head while Howland feed the horse an apple while nodding his head, "and now… so much blood has been shed for the foolish mistake of two people."

"You blame Lyanna," Howland said. Ned noticed it wasn't a question, rather it was a statement.

"I don't know," Ned sighed as he and Howland walked over to another large rock across from Wylla, who continued to feed the baby, "I do not want to but…" Ned shook his head before whispering, "she should have told us. She should have told me."

"That she should have," Howland agreed as he leaned forward while a cool breeze brushed past them. He closed his eyes and sighed. "We may never know why she never told anyone the truth. But if anyone finds out…."

"Jon's life would be in danger, I know," Ned said looking at Jon. He then looked away and stared at the fire, "there's something else… something that has been bothering me."

"Other than why Lyanna never told any of us that she married Rhaegar?" Howland asked. Ned nodded his head before continuing.

"There's something else," Ned whispered, "during the battle on the Trident, I remember cutting through a Dornish spearman. One of many I killed that day, and… and then I felt something…"

"Something?" Howland asked.

"A tingling sensation in my spine as I pulled my sword out of the Dornishman's chest," Ned said while staring at the fire, "I thought there was someone behind me. So I turned and…" Ned then turned his head to Howland, "I saw a woman on the battlefield."

"A woman?" Howland asked with his eyebrows furrowed.

"Dark hair, brown eyes, skin the colour of Wylla," Ned said glancing at the woman feeding Jon before looking back at Howland, "it was strange. I have fought with women on the battlefield," and immediately Ned's thoughts went to the Mormont women as he continued to speak, "but this one seemed confused… as if she didn't know where she was fighting. I then heard Robert yell Rhaegar's name, and then the woman started running towards the two of them."

Howland listened as Ned told him that he grabbed the woman's arm after killing another Dornish Spearman. He told Howland how the woman's eyes widened after she turned her head to stare at back at him.

"She was very surprised," Ned repeated, this time in whisper. He then continued to say that the woman, wearing clothes that were strange, then turned her head towards the location where both Robert and Rhaegar were battling in the waters of the Trident. "She twisted her arm enough for me to lose my grip. But I managed to tear something off her sleeve before she ran."

"And then?"

"Then... there was still a battle to fight," Ned said thinking back to watching the woman run towards the fighting Robert and Rhaegar before pushing his mind and body back into the fight, "I went back to fighting. I wanted to go after the woman and get her out of the battlefield, but I had to protect myself and the man who would be King. She reminded me of Lyanna…" Ned had a faraway look in his eyes, "what she would have been like if she fought with us that day." Ned then shook his head, "by the time the battle was over, the woman was nowhere to be found, and Rhaegar's body was stolen away by Targaryen loyalists."

"Strange," Howland said.

"Yes," Ned replied.

"You said you tore off something from her sleeve?" Howland reminded him. He saw Ned reach down to the left side of his body, under his leather armour, before pulling out a black piece of cloth. He handed it to Howland, who took it into his hands and stared at the pattern; a circle that was hovering over a triangle.

"Interesting," Howland whispered with his eyes focused on the design, "very interesting."

**Kings Landing, at that same time.**

Thoros opened his flask and took a swig of the brownish liquid inside. He felt the contents burn as it went down his throat while using his sweat covered left arm to wipe the wetness away from his lips. Screwing the stopper onto the flask, and then dropping it onto his crumbled-up robe on the floor at the side of his feather bed once again, Thoros looked up at the ceiling in his room at one of Kings Landings many whorehouses and wondered about the last month. He was set to leave Kings Landing soon- the war was won, and he didn't want to be in the city. He was supposed to have preached to and converted the now deceased Mad King to the Lord of Light, but what can one do when they don't even believe their religious scriptures and the existence of their Lord. So, all Thoros would do now was drink and have sex with whores while wandering the country.

Blinking his eyes, Thoros turned his head towards the young brown-haired, doe eyed young woman sleeping next to him. For the last month, he had a girl a day during his stay in various Inns and whorehouses so that he could get his mind off what he had seen in the Throne room.

'I was there,' Thoros thought, his head turning back towards the ceiling, 'I saw the bodies. The Princess Elia was torn in half… Rhaegar's boy was simply a lumpy mass of flesh covered in Lannister cloaks, and the girl… the girl's face was mutilated beyond recognition. Her body was stabbed so many times that there were more holes than solid flesh.' Thoros gulped, pushing down the bile that threatened to leave his stomach, 'when the Lannister...' he remembered the gasps all around, followed by a few people vomiting at the sight of such a body, when Tywin Lannister uncovered Rhaenys' body, 'it was as if whatever pieces of flesh was holding her body together would tear apart.'

The anger and rage that went into killing Rhaenys was shocking to Thoros. And he never forgot Ned Stark's reaction. He couldn't forget the Lord of Winterfell's rage as he yelled at his new king… his brother by everything but blood. Thoros was there to witness Ned Stark walking away in rage after Robert denied the requests for Jamie Lannister and the Mountain to be punished for their crimes.

'Dragon Spawn, that's what he called the bodies of the two children,' Thoros thought to himself as he closed his eyes, 'war… it does things to people… it changes them. Now the question is, does it change for the better or worse. What will happen to Westeros without the dragons who ruled it for three hundred years.' Thoros sighed as he thought to himself, 'well, I would certain not mind staying in Westeros to see how this turns out. Besides, there are so many varieties of ale to try, and whores to fuck.'

Once Thoros closed his eyes, he found himself standing on the battlements of a castle. Confused, he looked up at the sky, at the grey clouds covering up against any sunlight while soft white pearls were slowly falling towards the ground.

'Not pearls,' Thoros thought as he held out his left hand. He watched as two, and then four, and then several more snowflakes landed in his gloved hand. It took less than a second for the snow to melt into water. He looked back up at the sky again, 'snow. Where am…'

Still looking up at the sky, his thoughts away upon hearing the familiar sounds of battle. He looked back down, and saw that where there was once an empty field, there was now thousands of men fighting creatures that he had only heard stories of since coming to Westeros. His eyes opened wide while putting his hands on the walls of the battlements and he leaned forward… he thought his eyes were deceiving him.

'Are… are those…' There was no mistake. Thoros could see barely held together skeletons wearing rusted helms and swinging rusted swords, he could see creatures running and fighting on two feet - some had parts of their bodies and clothes, with dried blood, ripped apart, others were missing either of their hands or arms, or half of their face. Among them he saw giant spiders, dead bears, dogs, wolves, and even direwolves. All fighting against the living. Thoros gasped before he looked around… this wasn't the first time he had such a vision while dreaming, but it was the first time it was so detailed. Thoros looked to his left, and saw the flapping banners of House Stark posted to the battlements. He then heard a crash and looked back out at the battle in front of him, he leaned forward and straight down the walls as the living retreated back into the castle- or rather, they were swamped by the dead. The dead flooded inside, leaving Thoros' heart racing as he reached for his sword.

Just then, as he was about to step towards a stairway on his left that would lead him to the battle at the lower sections of the castle, the sounds of battle faded away. Thoros turned and stared back out past the battlements and saw the snow continuing to fall… the ground already covered in several inches of the white powder.

'Winterfell. The dead battle the living.' Thoros thought to himself as he sheathed his sword. It was then he heard the sounds of distant flapping wings. He looked up and towards the South, from where the sound was coming. Thoros narrowed his eyes and four specks appeared in the horizon.

'What is….' His eyes widened when he heard a roar. The entire castle vibrated as the four specks got closer and closer - the roar was so strong the closer the specks got to him. His breath hitched when he finally saw three pairs of flapping wings- and then he saw them. He saw all three of them clearly. Three dragons. Three dragons roaring as they flew from the South. And then there was another roar as Thoros turned the other way; his jaw dropped when he saw a fourth dragon flying towards Winterfell from the North.

'Four dragons,' Thoros thought to himself excitedly, and with a tiny bit of dread at the same time, 'four dragons!' And then, just as they appeared, they vanished before his very eyes. 'The North, Winterfell, the dead, and the coming of dragons.'

Thoros' eyes snapped open. He remembered the battle and the dragons – one had scales of black and red, another one had scales of deep green and bronze, and the other alongside them had scales of silver and black. He then recalled the one coming from the North, it had cream coloured and gold scales. Thoros was sweating as the first rays of the sun came into his room while one thought above all else screamed out, 'Dragons are coming. Winter is coming; and the dead come along with it.'

**Colorado Springs, Earth.**

Rhea couldn't believe that she couldn't remember having seen before what she was seeing now. As the car drove out of Cheyenne Mountain, she stared out of the rear passenger side window. She was on her knees while Lainnie, who shimmied closer, held on to her waist so that she didn't fall over off the rear seat. But the older woman could see the look of wonder on Rhea's face, from the latter's reflection, while her palms were pressed against the window.

Rhea could see wisps of cloud in the bright blue sky before looking down to the green of the trees and grass that covered the ground as the car continued to go down the road.

Rhea looked back at Lainnie, and then back to the window, and said out loud what she had been thinking, "how can I forget everything?"

"You hit your head pretty badly," Lainnie said as she gently, while Rhea was still staring out the window, brushed back some of the latter's black hair and her fingers brushed on a scar on the little girl's scalp. It was the same place where the little girl was stabbed by the Mountain, "that's where you hit your head."

"Oh," Rhea whispered before she sat down on the seat. She took her hand to the scar, she felt the slight bump before a frown appeared on her face, "will I remember everything?"

"Hopefully," the Colonel said as he glanced at the rear-view mirror, and then back at the road, "the police are searching for any relatives you have in Canada. Your dad was pretty private, even back in High School… so It'll take some time."

"But," Lainie added, and her voice had Rhea looking up to her, "we'll be taking care of you until you get your memory back, or we find one of your relatives." Lainnie knew it was a lie, and she glanced at the rear-view mirror, her eyes locking with the Colonel's. She hated to lie about Rhaenys not having any other family, but it was agreed that the truth would be revealed to her on her seventh birthday – an age where everyone hoped that she would begin to be able to handle that information. In the meantime, the Dixon's knew their duty was to provide all the love and support they could provide to the little girl.

"And if my memory never comes back?" Rhea asked.

"Then I hope that you'll come to see me and Dave," Lainie said, her heart aching at the despondent look on Rhaenys' face, "as your parents."

"We can't take the place of your mom and dad," the Colonel said, "and our sons can't take the place of your brother. But I promise you that all of us will take care of you."

A small smile, a sad smile, appeared on Rhea's face as she looked back out the window. The Colonel and Lainie looked at each other before the former turned his eyes towards the road, and Lainie placed her hand gently on Rhea's right shoulder.

It would be several minutes of driving later that, Rhea, her face showing wonderment at the changes in her surrounding – from greenery all around her, to cars driving every which way on large wide roads, to passing a city and entering what Lainnie called "the Suburbs". Rhea watched as houses of various colours passed by her window. She saw adults walking, or running, or pushing an object making loud noises over grass; Rhea then saw children playing on the front lawns of several houses. Before long, the car she was in look a turn and then drove for a few minutes longer before coming to a stop.

Rhea stared at the home – a two story house with a garden in the front lawn, along with a driveway to the left where there were already two cars parked. She then stared at the cream and grey exterior of the home before focusing on the dark brown door. She then heard the driver side door open, and she watched as the Colonel stepped out, closed the door, and then walked over to open her door.

Once the rear door opened, Rhea feel the cool air rush into the car.

"Come on, Rhea," the Colonel held out his hand. Rhea reached out and placed her hand into his, his hand covered her small fingers, and then stepped out – actually she hopped out – onto the green grass of the lawn. Behind her, Lainie stepped out and walked over to Rhea's side. She then reached out with her hand, a hand that Rhea held in hers, and the both of them walked onto the pebble stone path that led from the driveway, and cut through the front lawn to the steps that led to the front porch.

Rhea looked up at the bushes in front of the porch and then she took in the scent of fresh flowers to her left. She stopped to look at the purple, red, and blue flowers that were growing. She liked the scent, but she couldn't remember what they were called. She looked up at Linnie who then knelt next to her, placing a hand on her back, while asking about the flowers.

The Colonel listened with a small smile on his face as Lainnie introduced the types of flowers growing from the bushes before telling Rhea that they had a small green house in the back yard.

"The boys should be back soon, how about right now I show you something nicer?"

Rhea nodded her head with a small smile on her face. She glanced at the purple flower, the Primrose, and mentally told herself that she liked the scent. She and Lainnie followed the Colonel up the stairs to the front door. Rhea watched the door open, before she was led in by the Colonel and his wife in her new home.

TBC.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 25/11/2018: Edited ch 03 to 05. Made some changes prior to ch 06.

 

 

 

**The Dixon Residence.**

After being shown around the small greenhouse in the backyard, Rhea was led back into the main house by the Colonel. Rhea recalled the sweet-smelling flowers in the greenhouse and felt that she smelled them before, but she couldn't remember where nor when. All she knew was that there was a thought in the back of her mind that she was trying to grasp, however the memory simply passed through her mental fingers.

'Maybe we had flowers like that back at home,' Rhea thought as she entered the warm house to another scent that wafted into her nostrils. She tried to place the new smell while she was being led into the kitchen where the Colonel picked her up and placed her on a chair at the kitchen island. While she was seated, the Colonel then walked over to a counter after kissing Lainie, who was stirring something in a silver pot, on the cheek. Rhea placed her little hands on the surface of the island while watching Lainie chuckle and wondered if her own mother chuckled like that.

'I wish I could remember their voices,' she thought to herself as the Colonel placed a dark blue mug in front of her, and then he placed one more in front of the chair next to her, and another across from her. Rhea looked up at the Colonel, her eyes tacking him, as he walked to the seat across from her and then sat down while Lainie walked over with the silver coloured pot in her hand, steam rising out from the contents within, and the delicious smell causing Rhea to wipe the drool that was coming out of the side of her mouth. Rhea looked on as Lainie tilted the pot and poured steaming dark coloured liquid into her mug while thinking, 'I know this… I should remember this… but I can't…'

Rhea then watched as Lainie poured the drink into the Colonel's mug, and then into the mug next to her. She then looked on as Lainie walked back to the stove, placed the pot on the surface, and then grabbed a jar filled with multicoloured thumb-sized pellets she didn't recognize.

Lainie walked around the kitchen island and behind Rhea before taking a seat with the jar in her hand. Rhea watched as Lainie twisted the top of the jar open before she tilted the jar and seeing the multicoloured pellets dropping into the palm of her hand. Rhea looked on perplexed at the coloured pellets in Lainie's palm being extended towards her. "It's okay, try one out first," Lainie said.

Rhea reached out and gently picked up a light pink coloured pellet; her eyes widened at how soft it was in her hand. The surface was a little rough, she thought to herself, and then she put the pellet into her mouth. Immediately, a smile formed on her face and she bit down into the soft pellet the size of her thumb; it was soft, sweet, and she enjoyed the flavour… although she couldn't tell what it was. Even so, she enjoyed it.

"What is this?" Rhea asked after she swallowed the food and then watched as Lainie placed three of the thumb sized pellets into the drink.

"They're called marshmallow's," Lainie said with a small smile on her face, "you had the pink one, right?" Rhea nodded her head before Lainie continued, "I think you had the strawberry."

"Oh," Rhea whispered as she looked into the mug, grabbed the spoon, and then fished out the pellet floating in the dark sweet-smelling liquid. She watched the pink pellet resting on her spoon as steam rose off it before she blew on it to cool it down before popping it into her mouth. She smiled as she chewed the soft marshmallow; and then the flavour from the liquid hit her.

'Chocolate,' Rhea realized with a smile as she looked back down at the rest of the marshmallows floating in the liquid, 'this is chocolate. I'm drinking chocolate.' Rhea then looked up at Lainie and the Colonel before saying, "I remember this… this is chocolate. I am right?"

"Yep," Lainie smiled placing her hand on Rhea's upper back, "do you remember anything else?"

"Just that I have had chocolate before," Rhea replied, suddenly sullen as she realized she didn't remember where she had chocolate before, or with who; nor did she remember when she had it last. She looked back down at the mug with a small frown on her face as she wrapped her fingers around the surface, "but I don't remember anything else."

Lainie rubbed the little girl's back while glancing at the look of sadness etched on Rhea's face before looking over at the Colonel's as he reached out and placed his hand gingerly around Rhea's wrist.

"You'll get the rest of your memories," he whispered, "it may take some time, but I think you'll get them back."

"I am frightened of what would happen if I don't get my memories back," she replied softly and with a sniffle.

"Then I hope you see us as a family," Lainie whispered gently before she wrapped an arm around the little girl's shoulder and then rested the side of her head on top of Rhea's.

**Water Gardens, the next day.**

"Rhaenys," Doran whispered as he stared at the picture in his hands of Rhaenys sitting on one of the steps that led to the Dixons' home's front porch. The little girl had a smile on her face while Lainie was seated next to her, a grin on her face as well. Doran handed the picture to Oberyn whose face was painted in mixed emotions as he stared at the picture of the girl who was his niece – a girl who the entirety of Westeros believed to be dead.

As Oberyn brushed his finger tips against the smooth surface of the picture in his hand, Doran stared at the three people sitting across from him on a silk covered couch. In between them lay a table covered with trays of various sweet treats and cups of spiced tea. His eyes drifted from Daniel, to Teal'c, and then to the man who was introduced to him several minute ago when they arrived, Colonel Dixon.

"Again, I would like to apologize for my wife being unable to accompany us to this meeting, Prince Doran, Prince Oberyn," the Colonel said nodding his head at each of the two Princes. It was only a few hours ago, before the former boarded the Hammond, that Lainie spoke to the Colonel and said that leaving Rhea now would seem as if she was abandoning her just as they were slowly getting to know one another.

The two Princes, Oberyn looking back up from the picture of Rhea in his hand, nodded their heads before Doran spoke, "you and your wife have an open invitation to visit us at the Water Gardens and Sunspear."

"Thank you," the Colonel replied nodding his head before Daniel leaned forward to speak.

"As we've already agreed," Daniel spoke, "Rhaenys will be given a new identity while she's on Earth. In the meantime, she'll be well looked after…"

"By your family, Colonel," Oberyn interrupted as he reached down and grabbed a soft rectangular sweet the size of his thumb. He eyed the Colonel who nodded his head while leaning back on the couch with his brother to his left, "that is correct, is it not? And she will be safe?"

"Yes, to both questions," the Colonel replied before Daniel continued.

"A chance to live a life without always having to look over her shoulder," Doran said while sensing anger from his brother who was doubtful about keeping their niece away on another planet instead of with them where he had been recently insisting she would be safe. Doran looked over at Oberyn who was linking his fingers after popping the sweet into his mouth, "I want her here as well, but the Spider has his web all over Westeros. If Robert discovers Rhaenys is here before we can even form a plan of vengeance against him and the Lannisters then they will come here with the entirety of Westeros behind them. They will take Rhaenys from us, and they will kill her."

Oberyn scowled as he looked away. Doran sighed before looking back towards the Colonel and t he others. It was only yesterday that one of the guards in the Watergardens caught a spy, one of many hired by Tywin Lannister to search for the real Rhaenys. He was caught in one of the bedrooms searching for anything that could point to Rhaenys staying in the Watergardens… not a real smart thing to do. It was Oberyn who tortured the middle-aged spy who revealed his being assigned to search Dorne… one of many to search Dorne… for Rhaenys. However, the man had no idea what the other spies looked like, which meant that the two Princes would have to be extra careful about any information regarding Rhaenys' real location.

But still, Oberyn believed Rhaenys could be protected in Dorne. He believed it in his very being that she could be, and should be, protected in Dorne. However, there was a small part of him that agreed with Doran, that Rhaenys would be in near constant danger if she stayed with them in Dorne. He also knew that Doran was right, that there would be another war if Rhaenys remained in Dorne.

He already insisted, last night, that he travel with the off-worlders so that he could protect Rhaenys, but it was Doran who insisted that he remain in Dorne. His reasoning being that there would be too many questions asked if the brother of the Prince of Dorne was missing for too much of a time.

"So, she will know the truth about who she really is and where she is from when she is seven namedays," Oberyn said.

"Yes," the Colonel said, "just as it was agreed."

"This is our niece we are speaking of," Oberyn said leaning forward, "and while my request to accompany you to your world to personally ensure she has this…."

"Amnesia," Teal'c said when Oberyn waved his hand around his head signalling a struggling remember the word the three of them mentioned earlier when they arrived at the Watergardens, "it is amnesia."

"Thank you," Oberyn said nodding at Teal'c before his eyes shifted towards the Colonel, "while it was denied by my brother, I would like to have someone accompany you to your world to ensure she really has this… amnesia."

Doran glanced over at Oberyn who was now grinning at the Colonel before reaching out and grabbing another sweet. He popped it into his mouth, leaned back on the couch, and then began chewing. It was a good idea, Doran had to admit. It was something they hadn't discussed among themselves though as he looked back at Daniel and the Colonel who were glancing over at each other before looking back at him.

"We were going to suggest such an arrangement," Daniel said much to the Prince's surprise, "we were thinking either one of you, or someone who knew Rhaenys when she was here."

"Someone she would remember," Doran said while Teal'c sipped the sweet tea from the cup in front of him, "someone who would remember her."

"Indeed,' Teal'c said nodding his head.

"The hope is that seeing one of you, or whoever else you decide to have come with us temporarily would jolt her memories," the Colonel Said leaning forward, "maybe Rhaenys would remember her, and if that happens, then we'd know that her memories are coming back."

"And if she does not remember?"

"Then she lives her life as is, until she's told the truth, and once she is, then we were thinking it would be good for her to meet with someone periodically," the Colonel said while the three of them noted the knowing looks on Doran and Oberyn's face.

"We would like to have someone meet her to teach her about who she is, the customs of your country," Daniel said, "I'm sure there are things she would have to know as a Princess so…"

"I agree," Doran said as a small smile formed on Oberyn's face, "there are things that she should know about being royalty, about who she is and about her heritage as a Dornish and as a Targaryen." Doran paused as Oberyn scoffed when the former mentioned the word 'Targaryen'. He sighed before continuing, "But I suppose those can wait."

Oberyn glanced at Doran; he agree with most of what Doran had just said. He at first believed that the people in front of him would rather not have Rhaenys discover, or rather re-discover, her heritage. But knowing that they wanted Rhaenys to know about her heritage at some point in the near future eased some of the tension he had been feeling until now. He looked down at his hands as he imagined teaching his niece how to wield a sword before looking over at Doran who breathed out while leaning back on the couch.

"Is there anyone you trust to accompany us to Earth for a day to confirm what we've told you?" Daniel asked.

Doran and Oberyn looked at each other for a few seconds; the two of them having the same thought since they were unable to leave. Doran then turned his head back towards Daniel and nodded his head, "I think I know someone who would be perfect."

**Starfall, a day later.**

The Lady Ashara Dayne had suffered numerous losses, that's what she thought staring into her own reflection. Her chambers in the Palestone Tower of Starfall looked out to the Torrentine river below was dimly lit by candelabra's on the walls as she stared at the full length mirror made of the clearest Myrish glass. She stared at her own violet eyes with a look of despair and loneliness- the rest of her slim figure on display underneath the tight silken dress that wrapped around her body with her back exposed till the curve of the small of her back.

She breathed in before turning around. She stared at the window on the other side of the four post bed that was neatly made that very morning by her attendants. It had been a month since the rebellion where she lost her two best friends, Rhaegar and Elia – Ashara was after all, Elia's handmaiden in Kings Landing. Her death hit her especially hard as far as the brutality of it. And then she was told of the deaths of the babe Aegon and Rhaenys who would call her Ash since she couldn't pronounce Ashara. She loved that little girl, but no she was dead; her blood stained the floor of the throne room.

'The two children are dead,' she thought while taking slow, but steady, steps towards the window. Her hand reaching for and grasping on of the dark brown wooden posts, 'my child was stillborn from the shock, and now… now Ned tells me that Arthur was killed. He killed my brother… so many losses… so many.' Ashara walked forward while reaching for and then grabbing the second post across from her.

She could now she the full moon hanging up in the cloudless sky.

'Just a few more steps and…'

"My lady Allyria!" Ashara froze in place, her right hand gripping tight the second post as footsteps could be heard in the hallway outside her chambers. "My Lady! You must stop running!"

"And you should stop yelling!" Ashara couldn't help but chuckle at her younger sister. She had taken the news of their brother dying hard, so hearing the young woman laughing was a godsend. Laughter was missed in Starfall ever since the stillbirth of Brandon Stark's child. Ashara thought that her sister would rush past her door, but instead, the footsteps stopped right outside before pounding could be heard.

"Sister, are you awake?"

Ashara looked out the window at the moonlight reflecting off the meandering river. She was so close. So very close.

"Sister." Ashara knew the door was locked from the inside. Her heart was telling her to take the next few steps towards the window. She wanted to feel the wind brushing against her face and body.

"Ashara," the gentle voice of her sister spoke, "we received an urgent message by raven from Prince Doran." And Ashara stopped the step forward she was about to take; there were only five more steps she thought to herself. "He would like your presence at the Water Gardens. He asked that you leave tonight."

Allyria knocked on the door again.

"Ashara," this time the voice sounded worried as Ashara turned to face the door, her eyes wide open as she wondered what Allyria would think if she knew what she was contemplating, "are you alright? Are you asleep?"

This time the door shook as if Allyria was trying to shake it open, "Ashara, open the door."

"My Lady," a man's voice spoke while the door shook even more from hard knocks, "my Lady, this is Ser Willem, please open the door." Ashara shook her head before looking back out the window, and then back towards the door. She sighed, strode towards the door, undid the lock, and then pulled the door open to reveal a bald man in armour with the symbol of Starfall embossed on the chest plate, and then she glanced at her sister who was staring at her in worry while holding a rolled up parchment in her left hand.

"What were you doing?" Allyria asked, her eyes trained on the false smile on Ashara's face as the latter stepped aside and let the two of them in. Ashara closed the door and shook her head before saying that she was getting ready for bed. Allyria turned towards her and Ashara saw her sister's eyes looking her up and down while furrowing her eyebrows, "you will go to bed in something as beautiful as that dress?"

Ashara glanced at Ser Willem looking at her, and then back at the open window, and then back at her again with an expression of pity. She wanted to scream out loud that she didn't want his pity, that the pain in her heart was throbbing so much that it felt as if she was about to burst. That having all these deaths one after another was too much for her to bear. Instead, she looked away from the knight and her eyes locked with Allyria.

"It was something new, my dear sister," said Ashara before she forced a smile to her face once again and nodded at the piece of rolled up parchment, "so, the missive from the Prince? Does he say why he's commanded me to the Water Gardens?"

"No, my Lady," Ser Willem said as he nodded his head, "if I were to make a wager though, it would be to give you his condolences personally on the death of Ser Arthur."

"I see," Ashara whispered as Allyria handed her the missive and the woman said to be the most beautiful in all of Westeros unfurled the parchment. She stared at the intricately written words before looking up and nodding her head. Ashara looked to Ser Willem and said, "the Prince expects me there at the Water Gardens by sunrise."

"I will have the retinue ready, my Lady," the Knight said bowing his head in respect to Ashara before he rushed past them, his armour clicking as he walked out of the door. Ashara then turned to an upset Allyria who was staring at her, her hands rolled into fists, and then out the window before turning back towards Ashara once again.

Ashara looked away from Allyria's judgemental eyes and strode towards the door. She closed it before turning around and leaning back against it, "say what you wish, dear sister."

"He was my brother too, Ash," Allyria said, "and I miss him terribly."

Ashara looked away from Allyria as tears welled in the former's eyes.

"I wish your son was… was alive, I wish that the man you loved was alive, I wish…" Allyria rushed forward and placed her hands on the dark brown haired woman's shoulders and pulled her in close, "I wish things were different. This war… this war changed everything. We lost so many of our loved ones, and… and we have to…"

Ashara held onto Allyria tight while feeling drops of water falling on her bare left shoulder. She wept as well while whispering, "I… do not know how to move on… I... I really do not..."

"We must go through this together, Ash," Allyria's voice cracked while closing her eyes, "I cannot do this alone."

"You have been betrothed to Ser Dondarion," Ashara wiped her eyes as she pulled away from her younger sister, "you will not be alone."

"In some ways I will be," Allyria said before she placed a hand on Ashara's cheek. She glanced at the window and then back to Ashara, "I will come with you to the Water Gardens."

"The Prince asked for only I," Ashara relied shaking her head, "although I wish I knew the reasons why." AS she walked towards her closet, Ashara glanced at the open window for a second and then looked away. The pain was already too much for her, and she had every intention of jumping out of her window and into the rushing waters of the Torrentine River below. However, there was a part of her that was fighting to live – especially after reading the missive. She didn't know why, but there was a feeling in her chest that her life was about to change.

TBC


End file.
